Plum Wings & A Midnight Dirge
by Toxinator
Summary: The epic tale of Demyx and Zexion as they try to live a normal life, but must fight for both their love as well as their lives along the way.
1. Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Since childhood, two boys have lived in the same city, in the same homes, and have even gone to the same school for as long as they could remember. Going through thick and thin, all the way from helping one another walk home after scraping a knee, to giving one another a pat on the back when they lose a contest. They were best friends, one might say.

And then came high school. A whole new deal. But still, they stuck through it, finding jobs and getting the grades, still with time left to be together.

Over time, though, girlfriends came between them, time and time again, until they stopped altogether. Broken hearts for everyone.

To you, this may just sound like the typical story of two teenagers living typical lives with typical parents, and in the end, everyone walks away with the typical happy ending.

But this story is a whole new kind of teenage life. Listen to the story behind two outcasts, two boys who are far from the popular crowd, and let yourself get pulled down into the grasp of their battle for love and for life, with twists and turns around every corner.

This is the tale of Demyx and Zexion. This is the story of _Plum Wings & A Midnight Dirge._


	2. I  School

So...its been long enough, but here's the first chapter. Yes, it's short, but it sets ground. Enjoy!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts...but I bet you all knew that already. XP

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE – SCHOOL

Across the street some new neighbors were moving in, and my parents being who they were felt like it was necessary to go over and greet them once they were all settled in, and they made me go with them. I didn't really want to go, but they made me, so I had no choice.

They answered the door and my parents introduced themselves. I didn't pay any attention to them, until my father put his hand on my shoulder and told them my name. I smiled up at my new neighbors and they smiled back, putting their hands on their knees and talking to me like I was three and not seven. But then they called to the back of the house, and a shy boy with light brown hair came up behind them.

"Demyx, meet Zexion. He lives across the street…" I stopped listening and looked at Demyx. He tried to be more outgoing, but it didn't really work. He just sort of blushed and waved with a nervous smile.

"Well, we'd better get going," My mother said.

"Oh, okay," Demyx's father said. "Well, we hope we can get the boys together for a little play date sometime,"

"Of course!" My father answered. Then the parents said their goodbyes to one another, and Demyx shyly waved, saying lightly,

"Bye, Zexion."

"Goodbye, Demyx." I waved back to him then scratched the back of my head before my parents turned around to leave.

I kind of thought about Demyx every now and again since I got home, I couldn't get him out of my head. I wondered what kind of a person he was or if he was always that shy. And what about his eyes? A shade that kind of blue was either some sort of genetic mishap or…something else. He also smelt different from his parents. It was kind of pleasant.

It was cool though. It was only two days and then he was going to the same school as I was, and we were even in the same class. He clung to me like glue because I was the only person he had met so far. We became pretty good friends. He was really the only person I could even stand to be around, and it was only two weeks after he started school that we began going over to each other's houses to play games and whatnot. It was really fun.

Eight years later-

"Hey! Zexion!" It was Demyx, of course. He ran up behind me while I was on my way to the library.

"What is it?" I asked, flipping my hair out of my eye.

"Ive got a question,"

"Yeah." I was only-half listening, the other half of my mind was concentrated on the last two pages of a book I was reading, hence why I was headed towards the library.

"Well, you know how there are three different high schools. I wanted to know which one you're gonna go to. My parents said they would enroll me in whichever I wanted to go to, and they need to know by the next few days. So, which school are you going to?"

"Twilit Academy Boarding School." I answered a little quick, already knowing his question and already knowing my answer. But Demyx didn't really enjoy hearing that answer.

"Twilit Academy?"

"Yeah."

"Why there?"

"Because my parents thought it would be a good experience for me," I closed my book, finished, and looked at him. "They said because I had the grades and the school tests how well their students can function in a college-like atmosphere it both prepares me for college and increases my chances of getting a scholarship."

"Oh…"

"Why the disappointment?"

"Because…" He trailed off, thinking. After being around him for such a long time, you learn what certain actions mean when they come from a friend. "Well, Im not sure if Ive got the grades to get into there. Don't they only take people who've got a 2.9 GPA at the lowest?"

"Yes. But they also consider accepting students who have participated in extracurricular activities like sports or theatre. If I remember correctly, you've taken various guitar classes away from the school, as well as classes run by the school's music teacher."

"And I played soccer for a year, don't forget that."

"See? You've got more than the profile fit to enroll in Twilit Academy."

"I guess so…"

"Go home and tell your mother and father. They need to get a head start in enrolling you, the rush is going to start soon and the school will more than likely consider earlier enrollments than later ones. Also, Im not going to be leaving the library anytime soon, you'd just end up falling asleep of boredom by the time Id be just halfway finished."

With that he ran home excited as ever, and I entered the library to return, as well as check out a few books.

That night I was in the middle of getting ready for bed when Demyx called to tell me that he qualified for enrollment.

"Congratulations," I said. "School starts in three weeks. I would begin considering what I would be bringing with me if I were you."

"What can we bring?"

"Did you even look up the regulations for rooms?"

"…No." Of course not. This was Demyx, why was I expecting him to have done his research? I sighed.

"Obviously, you will need to bring clothes, just like you would have to as if you were to stay at a hotel for two weeks. Just think of it that way."

"So, all's I can bring is clothes?"

"No…" My lord he was clueless. "You are allowed to bring material possessions and decoration that is not too damaging to the walls. Bedding is also required, they don't provide it for you. What is provided is a dresser, closet, desk, nightstand and a single bed for each student. Use your brain and figure the rest out for yourself. If you really, really need any help—" I put emphasis on the _need_—"then call me. But Im going to bed now, Ill see you tomorrow." I hung up the phone and went to sleep as soon as I finished a chapter in my newest book.


	3. II Nervous

PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - NERVOUS

"Where is itttttt?" I was runnin' around everywhere trying to find my phone...It was only nine in the morning and I had already lost it! "I need to stop doing this..." I flung a pillow across the room that had my phone hiding underneath it. I smiled and cheered myself, creating a message for my dear friend Zexion.

I just told him to come over...even though he probably wasnt awake, but I really needed his help...

A few minutes later my phone rang.

"Zexion!" I cried. "Can you please come over here? _Pleeeeeeease?_"

"What on earth do you need my help for?"

"I dont know what to pack!" He grunted, but eventually I got him to come over.

"I dont understand why you have to make everything so difficult, Demyx," He said as soon as he came into my room, taking a seat on my bed to start reading.

"This is different! This _is_ difficult!" But he only sighed and began reading. I would ask him over and over what to bring and whether or not it was a good idea to take things like my stuffed animal whale that Ive had as long as I can remember, or something like an old textbook I forgot to return to my teacher in seventh grade...

"Demyx." He said in the middle of one of my questions. "Just think of it as if you have to pack for a sleep over. A very. Long. Sleep over." And he went back to reading. After that...he didnt really answer any of my questions.

I started to think at one point, though. Maybe I was relying too much on Zexion. I mean, yeah, he was my best friend and all, but I didnt need his help for _everything_, did I?

But soon enough my mind went right back to the matter at hand. One of my parents were going to drop off me and Zexion and the academy in the morning or sometime around there, and I needed to finish packing!

"Zexion?" My mom came in the room. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Possibly. Let me ask my mother what her plans are for this evening."

"Just let me know," And she walked out of the room. I looked at Zexion, and shut my door a bit.

"Hey, how come you're always so...so..."

"Polite, literate, proper?" He always named a few words for me until we found the right one.

"Yeah, proper! How come?"

"I would not be able to give you a straight answer. Ive always spoken like this. Even my own parents wonder why, and even how, I came to be like this. They are certainly no where near as proper, nor polite." He pulled out his phone and called his house, asking what was goin' on.

"Alright. Thank you." And he hung up the phone. "There isn't any special plans. It was another fend-for-yourself night. So, yes, I am staying for dinner."

"Alright! Hey mom! Zexion's stayin'!" I called out from my door.

"If I know you well enough," Zexion stated. "Then you had better finish your packing before dinner is ready. You wont finish after you've eaten." And...he went back to reading, leaving me with all kinds of decisions to make!

So...soon it was dinnertime and I really, _really _needed to finish packing and I still had so much to do...almost needless to say that I didnt get too good of a night's sleep. But...even before I fell asleep, I was still beyond nervous...partly because of what Zexion had pointed out earlier...we were more than likely not going to be in the same room, and that means different classes, too. Ever since I was little I had been right next to Zexion...how was I supposed to just..._stop_ being so close to him? I mean, like, Im sure he would be fine, and that I would be too, after some time, but I would definately miss him...The whole trip to the academy wasnt turning out at all like I had hoped...awww, man!


	4. III Arrival

Zexion's second chapter, a continuation from Demyx's, with a little bit of a re lap. Enjoy.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - ARRIVAL

The next morning, as well as the next few days, were the same as they always were toward the end of summer. Either everyone you knew was getting together for "one last time" before school, or they were too busy to do anything with you at all. In this case, Demyx was begging me for help with his packing.

"I think this would be helpful...no, no, it would take up too much space for something else. What about this? No...Hey, Zexion, do you think I should bring this?" He held up a folder that contained several sheets of music. I shrugged and went back to reading.

"It doesnt matter what _I _think you should bring. It's up to you. Besides," I placed my bookmark at the page I stopped reading and closed it. "Do you have any idea how unlikely it is for us to be in the same room? I know that's what you're thinking about."

"Yeah, but..." He looked again at his folder, and then in the corner where he kept his guitar. After a few seconds of deliberation, he paperclipped the sides shut and tossed the folder into the bag he was taking with him. That also meant he was taking his guitar, which, I thought was a very good idea.

Demyx adored his instrument like I adored my books. It would be a very, very bad idea if he _left_ the stupid thing at home. For crying out loud, the kid has a panic attack whenever he sees something that he mistakes for a chip in the body of the guitar, I could only imagine the horror he'd go through without having it around.

The whole "packing" episode passed faster than I expected it to, and we had nothing to do for a long time. So, we did what we always did. I read, he played guitar.

The day finally came for Demyx and I to begin school, and his father drove the both of us, even though we both had liscences. And do you want to know something stupid thing about the academy? Even if you have a car and can drive, they dont allow you to have one on campus. I dont know why, either. I couldnt find any sort of explaination for that little rule.

When we arrived at the academy, I had the royal pleasure of Demyx clinging to my side just like he did when he was seven, and just like every year we moved schools. We made our way to the front office because I desprately wanted to get out of all of the commotion and into a room that I could begin to modify for my liking.

"Aw, man..."

"What?"

"We're not even _close_ to having the same room..." Demyx showed me a piece of paper that had his room number on it. His was 92, and mine was 6.

"Well at least you dont have to live next to annoying drug addicts rolling in from town every weekend like Ill have to. My room is over there, right where the entrance is." I hated it. So very, very much.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Well, then, Demyx," I turned, adjusting my bag. "See 'ya later."

"Bye." He was nervous, I could tell. But he needed to learn how to get off my back and do things himself. It was high school, at an academy, and he couldnt just cling to me forever.

Upon getting into my room, I saw the two pairs of beds, nightstands and desks in the room in symmetrical order, as well as the closets. No one else was in the room, nor was anything else sitting there, I was apparently the first to show up to this particular dorm. So, I began the unpacking process.

Seeing that I brought more books along with me than actual possessions, the top of my desk was emersed in them. And that was only what was in my first bag, at the bottom of my second bag there were more. Other than that, the only things I had were clothes, school supplies, laptop, and my simple digital camera.

It didnt take me too long at all before I was beyond settled in, I even had my bed made. Then my phone went off. I looked at it.

_Demyx_.

I sighed, opening the message.

_Can you come to my room?_ Again I sighed.

_Be there in a minute._ And...off I went.

Apparently, Demyx was having trouble with his roomate. But, when I got there, the guy had left. So when the door was opened for me, Demyx didnt even say hello, he just dragged me inside and made me help him unpack his things.

"What was so bad about him?" I asked, putting away a pair of his pants.

"Even when I first got in here he freaked me out, man! He was a creeper!"

"Is that it?"

"No, he wouldnt leave me alone, either...and he was always _watching_ me..."

"Im sorry, I guess. No one else besides me has shown up to my room. To tell you the truth, Im kind of hoping it stays that way." You know that old saying Speak of the Devil and he shall appear? Well, right then and there, Demyx's roomate came right on in, and Demyx...wasnt really lying about the way he looked, not that Im one to judge.

He had long black and silver hair, strangely enough, and his face was rather boney. He looked like he was going to like, eat us or something when he smiled.

"Well, well, who's this?" He asked Demyx after seeing me.

"Uh, my friend," He said, clearly nervous. "Zexion." I never took my eyes off of him. He creeped me out. I felt like I needed to watch him.

"Huh." Was all he said, then threw something on his side of the room and left.

"That was him?" I asked when he was far enough way to not hear us talk.

"Mhm,"

"What's he call himself?" I looked at the door.

"Xigbar."

"Xigbar?"

"Yeah, but he said I should call him Xiggy." He shivered.

"Hm. Well, Demyx, do you need me for anything? It looks like you've got everything settled."

"Well I dont wanna stay here alone," I sighed, he wanted to cling to me, I could tell.

"Demyx..." I started. "You've seriously got to learn how to deal with situations on your own. Ive always been in the way of others in means of protecting you, so now it's time you learned how to do it for yourself." I waved and left for my room without another word.

The rest of the night was...pretty boring. No one came to move into the room I was in, so I assumed I was going to live by myself. Even still, though, reading from the early afternoon all the way to ten at night was quite a long time to be reading, even for someone like me. I couldnt help but wonder how Demyx was doing, he hadnt sent me any messages the entire day after I left him.

_You there?_ And I waited. A few minutes later I got a reply.

_Help meeeeeee D:_ My hand slammed into my forehead. I _knew_ I would have to go to him. So I got my shoes on and left, hoping no security or anything was going to catch me.


	5. IV Bothersome

Sorry for the long wait, but I had some other things to take care of...so, here's the latest chapter. Also, the whole "Ketchup in France" thing is a HUGE insult if you are in France. If you are given ketchup...get out of that country.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts...as Im sure you all know.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - BOTHERSOME

It had been a few hours since Zexion left me all alone in my room...it was scary to wait, just because I knew that that weird Xigbar guy would come in at any time and bug me. He freaked me out soo baaadd the first time I saw him...

Then the door busted open and in came Xigbar, and the look on his face when he saw that I was alone was just...it gave me some pretty intense goosebumps. He walked over and sat down on the edge of my bed. I was huddling up in the corner, probably looking something like a frightened puppy with my phone between my hands debating whether or not I should text Zexion so he could come over and protect me...but he said _not_ to, so...in the end, I didnt. That turned out to be a bad thing, though.

"Hey, Demy," What! He called me "Demy!" No one else was allowed to call me names except Zexion...

"Um...yeah?"

"What're you doin' later on?" I felt my phone vibrate, but I was too scared to open it.

"Uh, well, nothing...I might just, well, umm..."

"Why dont you just stay here for the darker hours, hm? Ya know, we could get to know each other better, since we're gonna be livin' in the same room for the rest of the year."

"Well, no, that's okay, Im prob'ly not gonna be spending too much time in here anyway, so, um, Im gonna go-" He blocked me from moving off of my bed and inched closer to me. Man, he was scaring me!

"Whoa, there, kiddo. Where do you think you're goin'?"

"Uh..." I quickly opened my phone and sent Zexion a message, not even reading the one he sent me.

_Help meeeeeee D:_

"Well, I was...going to go...um...aw, man..."

"Hm? What's the problem?"

"What? Oh, uh...nothing..."

"As if. You think I don't know you're lyin'? C'mon, what's wrong?" Again, he tried to move closer, but I backed myself so tight into that corner I felt flat.

"Nothing..."

_Hurryyyyyyyy! DX_

And a few seconds later, there was a knock on the door. Xigbar yelled at it.

"Go away! We're busy!" Then the door swung open and Zexion stood there, his emotionless eyes as emotionless as ever.

"Zexyyyyyy!" I whimpered, and he came inside.

"What do you think you're doing?" He said to Xigbar. It sounded more like a statement than like a question to me, but, whatever...

"It's none of your business, kid. Now why don't you run along, now, and be a good boy?"

"Because this _is_ my business. You're messing with my friend."

"Pfft. And?" Zexion glared at him with the most anger Ive ever seen come from one of his stares. He bent down and grabbed a pair of my shoes, stepped on the bed and dragged me from the corner by my wrist, taking me out of the room with him.

"Geez, what are you, his _boyfriend_ er somethin'? _Someone's _JEALOUS." He looked back and glared once more at Xigbar, and then left. He didnt even close the door, which meant he was mad...to someone like Zexion, closing a door meant respect in some way or another, so _not_ closing the door was like being handed ketchup in France.

But, anyway...he took me back to his room and slammed the door behind us, kicking off his shoes and leaving them in the middle of the floor. He...really was wired up. I let him be in silence for a while before I tried to say anything...

"Hey," I sat on the bed next to him. He was laying down, arms open wide, staring at the ceiling. "You okay?"

"Classes start tomorrow," he sat up and pulled two pairs of pajamas from his dresser. One pair was black and the other was a dark blue. He gave me the blue ones to wear. "Get changed and get some sleep. If you want, you can sleep on that bed, Ive got extra blankets and things. You could sleep on the floor, as well. Or-" He cut himself off. I was in the middle of getting my pajama on, and I was already wearing the pants. I looked up at him.

"Or what?" He looked at me with what I guess what nervousness, and stuttered for the first time in...ever.

"N-nothing, nevermind..."

"Well...okay." I put my shirt on the rest of the way and then he tossed me a pillow and some blankets...I wanted to sleep on the floor. It was always more comfortable on the floor.

"Cover your eyes." He told me, standing up.

"W-why?"

"Just do it."

"Why? What are you gonna do to me?"

"N-nothing," he stuttered again! What the hell? "Im, uh...getting changed, and...just, dont look!" I did as he said, but I dont see what the big deal really was...hell, we had seen each other pretty much naked on more accounts than one, so, what was the big deal? And why was hew stuttering so much? I peeked out from under the pillow to look at him to see if he was done, because I didnt know if he would tell me to uncover myself or not. He had the pajama pants on, and had just taken his regular shirt off and folded it, then put it in the corner. He always did that with his dirty clothes. He turned around to grab the pajama shirt off of his bed and saw me peeking.

"D-Demyx!" He raised his voice, pointing at me so fast that I covered myself because I thought he threw something at me. "I told you not to look!"

"Sorry..." I whispered, trying not to laugh. I dont know what was so funny, maybe it was the look on his face when he saw me!

"Well...you can come out now..." I uncovered my head after a few seconds, being careful that he wasnt going to hit me with anything. Thankfully, though, he didnt.

"Sorry, Zexy..."

"Why do you call me Zexy?" That question surprised me.

"What? Whaddya mean? Ive always called you Zexy."

"Yes, I realize, but why?"

"Because...it's short for Zexion and it's kinda cute. Like, if you named a cat Zexion when you play with it you could make it look even cuter and you could call it Zexy." I smiled, but he...didnt look to happy. "Um...why?"

"Because, to the average ear, it would sound like you're calling me sexy, and not by a 'cuddly nickname.'"

"Oh..." I thought about it, and...yeah, I guess that was kinda true... "So?" Opps. I felt my face get all red when Zexion looked at me with a nervous face again.

"Well, uh, n-no, I-that, didnt come out right..." He waited for me to fix myself... I could tell. "Um, well, do you _like _being called Zexy?"

"I...suppose so."

"How come? Even if people think I call you sexy, do you still like it then?"

"I..." He stopped. I looked at him, but he was pretty much frozen, trying to think. "I...yes. Yes, I do. B-but, not that I like _you_ calling me something like sexy, um, but, it's not just..._you_ saying it, but, wait...no...I like...um...just, go to bed!" He slammed himself down on his mattress and quickly covered himself up. The light was still on, though...so I got up and shut it off. But now...it was hard to see. I didnt wait for my eyes to get used to the new darkness in the room like I should have, instead I just kinda, tried to find my way back. I hit my knee on something hard and it _really _hurt so I turned to try and walk the other way and tripped over something else that was hard which _really _hurt my toes and then fell on the bed that Zexion was laying in, and I hit my forehead on his elbow (or at least I _think _it was his elbow) which _really _hurt and then he turned over and turned on the lamp that was next to the bed. He looked at me with some form of disappointment.

"Demyx." He said. "What are you doing?" I rubbed my forehead...it still hurt. Then again, so did my knee and my toes...

"I was...trying to shut the light off...and get back in bed..." He looked at me like I was stupid. I giggled, then he sent me onto the floor and I fell asleep with a throbbing knee, toes, and forehead.


	6. V Jealousy

A longer chapter, for the masses. I hope you all like it, because this is where things start to really happen. Also, I reference Axel in this. I think you'll laugh when you see it. :P

I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way...

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - JEALOUSY

_Calm _down_, Zexion...you've pretty much _lived_ with Demyx your whole life, stop being so nervous to just change in front of him! You've done it a million times!_

I had told Demyx to cover his face, and that's what he was doing, so I had no reason to be afraid. Hell, there was no reason in the first place. But, for some reason...I was really skiddish to just take my shirt off in front of him. No, I was just letting the stuff Xigbar said get to me. Hopefully...

So, I pulled the shirt off and was about to toss it to the floor when my overwhelming habit got the best of me. I folded the dirty shirt and put it in the corner. I hated clutter, I hate it even now. Even the dirty things need to be organized.

I turned around to grab my other shirt, the one I was going to wear to bed, when I stopped dead in my tracks. I spotted Demyx peeking out from under his pillow and felt my face turn red.

"D-Demyx!" It was one of the first times I had raised my voice to him, but he sank right back behind his pillow, uttering an apology. I could tell by his tone that he was trying not to laugh. I stood where I was for a few seconds more before I made a move, making sure he wasnt going to peek. I heaved a deep sigh, letting go of the breath I had no idea I was holding. I quickly replaced my shirt and told him it was fine for him to uncover his face.

"Sorry, Zexy..." he apologized once more, looking up at me from the ground.

"Why do you call me Zexy?" I don't know why I asked, it just sort of came out of my mouth.

"What? Whaddya mean? Ive always called you Zexy."

"Yes, I realize, but why?" I regret asking. His answer was a jumble of stuttering and uncertainty that made me uncertain about his real answer.

"Um...why?" He asked.

"Because, to the average ear, it would sound like you're calling me sexy, and not by a 'cuddly nickname.'"

"Oh..." He was silent, obviously thinking. Apparently, he had never realized that before, when I had realized it from a decent age. Then again, it was Demyx. He was far from the brightest Crayon. Come to think of it, he would have been the only Crayon to be stuck in a box filled with markers. When he spoke again, though, I got a similar, stuttery jumble for an answer. Then he turned around and asked _me _if I liked it.

"I...suppose so." He asked me why. Of course. "I..." I tried to formulate an answer, and it took me longer than I would have liked. It was hard to organize my reason behind this...

"I...yes. Yes, I do." _Wait, now he's going to think that you like being called sexy. _"B-but, not that I like _you_ calling me something like sexy," _Now he's going to get offended._ "um, but, it's not just..._you_ saying it, but, wait..." I was stuttering for the first time since infancy, and with each uncertain word I said I could just feel my face getting redder and hotter, and I only hoped Demyx wasnt able to see me blushing like that. Finally, I came to some sort of sense. "...just, go to bed!"

But...of course, Demyx had to find some way to make things awkward. And boy did he succeed. First, he got up to turn the light off. When I heard the light switch go off I waited for the worst. After all, he wasn't the smartest Crayon in the box of markers, like I said before. Almost right after, I heard a thud, followed by a crash, followed by Demyx's whimpering noises of pain, and then he fell right on top of me. I threw him off of me, nervous, and turned on the lamp that was next to my bed. He was rubbing his forehead, which he had hit against my elbow, which was also ringing with pain. What a way to say goodnight. I nudged him off the bed, and once he was done getting comfortable, I shut the light off.

It took longer than I wanted until I fell asleep. My mind was bustling, keeping me restless. I looked at my phone, the time read 1:36am. Classes began the next day, and at the rate in which I was going, I was seriously debating just staying up all night to read something, and then going about my day normally, instead of trying to go to sleep, getting three rested hours, then having to wake up and walk about brainless until I was granted sleep the next night. But those thoughts only occupied me for so long.

_Geez, what are you, his _boyfriend_ er somethin'..._

Xigbar's words just wouldnt leave me alone. But, why?

...Someone's _JEALOUS._

"I don't know." I whispered my words out loud, mostly to myself, because Demyx probably passed out hours ago. Then, it was harder to stop myself from thinking aloud.

"He's been around me nearly my entire life. What on earth am I suddenly so nervous about?" I ran a hand through my hair. "I've undressed to nearly nothing in front of him before, so why was just taking a shirt off so nerve racking? I just don't know." I thought about what Xigbar said one more time, letting a chuckle escape my lips. "Me, jealous of Xigbar...jealous." What did he mean when he said I was jealous? Demyx surely wasnt _with_ Xigbar, was he?

The next time I looked at my phone, the time read 2:10am. I sighed, still not the least bit tired.

"Boyfriend...jealous of his boyfriend. But...if Demyx _had _a boyfriend, he would have told me." I fell quiet for a while, not really thinking about anything. I actually started to become a little drowsy. "Not to mention..." I stopped, suddenly worried that Demyx was awake and listening. The rest of the sentance continued in my head. _I _would _be jealous, after all..._

The morning came, and when my alarm went off at 6:00am, I was beyond exhausted from a sleepless night. I think I finally ended drifting off to sleep closer to 3:30, than anything. I had no choice but to get up and start getting ready for the first official day of school at Twilit. Reaching over to the place Demyx was sleeping, I shook his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.

"Demyx. Get up," I rose from my place in the bed, beginning my day. It took me two more tries to tear Demyx from his slumber.

We were soon off to our classes, and it wasn't until our sixth period (the last one of the day) that Demyx and I had a class together, which was English. Thankfully, all students had the same thirty-minute lunch break, so Demyx and I met twice before the day ended. Unfortunately, someone said something about Demyx spending the night in my room, and he was kicked out to return to his own dorm with Xigbar.

"But my roomate tried to rape meee!" He whined, trying to convince him to let him stay in my room. "Can't I just transfer in here? It's only Zexion in this room, after all! Pleaseeeee?"

"Sorry, but assigned dorms stay that way until the end of the year, with very few grandfathered exceptions."

"Excuse me," I stated. "I happened to enter his room, last night, actually, and witnessed some unacceptable activity from his roomate. I can't help but thinking that if I hadn't come when I did, there may have been something close to rape in that room. Demyx, here, was pinned to the wall-"

"I'm going to have to ask you to not say anything else. Until this can be proven, nothing else will be said about this situation. You," He looked at Demyx. "can stay here for this last night. Tomorrow, we will take care of this, and you will miss as many classes as you have to so we can get this fixed. After it's settled, you will go back to staying in your assigned room, understand?"

"Y-yeah..." And he left without a word, leaving Demyx shaken in the room with me. He dove at me like he was about to break down, wrapping his arms around me.

"Thank youuu Zexyyyy!" He cried. "You saved meeeee!"

"Well, I don't think I literally saved you. But, you're welcome. Now, get ready for bed. It's late. We have a lot to deal with tomorrow."

We woke up at the normal time in which we would to get ready to go to classes, and ten minutes before we needed to go, the same man from the night before greeted us at the door. He escorted us to Demyx's dorm, at which time we were joined by Xigbar. He must have known something, because he looked at me with the fury of a thousand spikey red-headed teenage fireballs. I glanced at Demyx, who was standing close to me, and I saw how nervous he was. The poor thing.

The man took the three of us to the main office, where the three of us were put into the same room to await an official. A female counselor came in a few moments later, and the questioning began.

"First, do you three know why we've brought you here?" So far, she made the situation seem like we were police suspects in a murder. Demyx and I remained quiet, only nodding. Xigbar was the first to speak among us.

"Would you mind telling _me _why Im here, then? Apparently, these kids already know. Why am I left out?"

"There was concern that you, Xigbar, were attempting to have some sort of sexual relationship with Demyx here, against his will, if I understand correctly." Demyx became rigid at my side. Xigbar was silent, obviously trying to figure out some way out of this. "So, now that you're aware, I am going to have to ask you all questions at separate times. Demyx, Ill start with you." I felt him tense up. He was afraid, and there was nothing I could really do about it. I left the room, Xigbar followed.

We were told to wait in the chairs across from the secretary's desk, so the office members were able to keep an eye on us. After a moment or so, the secretary watching us got up from their seat and left, leaving me open to Xigbar's harassment.

"What did you do?" I was silent. He didn't like that. "Hey, answer me, will 'ya? What did you do?"

"I simply did what the guidelines of the school said to do. I felt as though a student was in danger, and I took the authority to report it." He was quiet for a time, but soon started up again, mainly just mumbling under his breath.

"If you're willing to stop trying things on my friend," I proposed. "Then Im willing to say this was a mistake." The only reason I was even proposing a deal with this stubborn boy was because I was worried for Demyx. He was terrified ever since the night before, and I hated seeing him like that. It was going to be bad enough if he was forced to go back to the same room with Xigbar, the poor thing would be traumatized. Xigbar finally scoffed an answer.

"As if," And almost as if it was planned, I was called into the room, and Demyx was sent out. I stopped him before I went in, glancing at his face.

"Demyx," he looked up at me, eyes full of fear and sorrow. It really did a number on me, Id never forget that face. But I said nothing else. He was told to sit down in an area away from Xigbar, then I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

"Hi," the woman greeted me. "Zexion, is it?"

"Yes," I took a seat across from her, crossing my arms and legs. This whole situation was starting to piss me off, especially after seeing Demyx's features like that. I wasnt in the mood for being proper towards this anonymous counselor.

"Well then," She began. "I want to ask you why you reported this to us."

"I saw that a student was in possible danger, so I did what the school guidelines asked of me to do in a situation like this."

"Is that all?"

"No. Demyx is a very close friend of mine. We've known one another since we were very young. We are each other's only friends, and we're like a family, the two of us. Seeing him as I did, I brought him to stay with me. When an official came, I told him the situation. That was last night."

"I see." She was quiet for a moment, probably thinking of how to phrase the next question.

"You said you saw Demyx in this situation, tell me what it is you saw, exactly."

"I came to his room and when I opened the door, he was backed into the corner of his bed with Xigbar trying to pin him," I thought about adding a little lie into the mix, it was possible that Demyx had exaggerated something, anyway, but I couldnt be specific. So, I went ahead and pushed in a little white lie. "clearly, trying to seduce Demyx against his will."

"Tell me what you did, then."

"When Xigbar refused to back off, I got between them and lifted Demyx out of Xigbar's way, taking him to my room to stay with me."

"Xigbar refused to back off?"

"Yes. I told him to get away from Demyx, but he just turned, telling me to mind my own business, and then continued."

"Hm. Well, why did you take Demyx to your room?"

"I told you. I was fearful for his safety."

"What did your roomate have to say about it?"

"I do not have a roomate. I am in my dorm by myself, although there is a spare set of furniture in the room being unused."

"You don't? Well," She wrote something down on a paper before her, then asked me another question. "How badly are you concerned for Demyx?"

"On what circumstance?"

"On the circumstance that he would have to stay in the same room with Xigbar?"

"On a scale of one to ten, I would be lying if I said anything other than eleven."

"Alright. Please send Xigbar in." I rose from my seat and exited the room, motioning for Xigbar to enter. He glared at me when he passed. I sat next to Demyx, who was in the same position as I had seen him in last. I said nothing, putting my hand across his shoulders and giving him a quick hug. He whispered his thanks to me.

"Demyx, Zexion, come inside, please." The counselor opened her door to invite us in. I stood first, giving a hand to Demyx. He was still in the same state, even after the hour we spent waiting for Xigbar's questions to end. All the while, we could hear his frustrated yells of protest, which is probably why it took so long. Demyx sat beside me once again.

"So," She started. "Ive questioned each of you, and Ive come to have my suspicions." She looked at Xigbar. "But Im still going to have to talk this over with some others, so, until we have a final decision, Demyx is going to be staying in Zexion's dorm. This could take as long as a week to figure out...so, I recommend you go by the dorm and pack some clothes and things for yourself." The three of us were excused, and escorted back to Demyx and Xigbar's dorm to get some of Demyx's clothes. When we were finished, Xigbar was put in his room and Demyx and I were allowed to return to my room by ourselves, and we were told not to go to our remaining classes. The office wanted to keep everything under wraps, so until a decision was made, our teachers were giving us our assignments personally.

That night, Demyx was quiet. I heard him tossing and turning hours after I had shut the lights off.

"Demyx," I said aloud. There was no acknowlegment, but I knew he was listening. I sighed. "I apoligize for having to put you through all of this. But it's to keep you safe. I will not allow you to go back to that room with him, do you understand?" Everything was quiet for a while. Then I heard Demyx move again, and saw his silouette sitting up. He turned the light on, looking at me blankly.

"Thank you," He said, coming over to me, hugging me. At first, I didnt know what sort of move to make. Then I found myself giving him the same affection, and soon enough, Demyx had fallen asleep. I did my best to lay him back down on the floor (he didnt want to sleep on the bed) before shutting the light off again to try and sleep.


	7. VI EMPLOYED

Another quick update, I must say. Dont worry, I wont keep you all waiting for too long. This is where things get REALLY interesting, so pay attention if you havent been! Ill update soon.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, as you all know.

* * *

PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - EMPLOYED

I didnt want to be where I was. In a counseling office with someone who doesnt know me and with someone who is a brother to me and with a third someone who wants me. It felt like a nightmare, only I couldnt wake up from it. It was only the third day of being at the stupid school...and I was already in a bad situation. And when Zexion left the room and left me with the counselor woman, things just got worse. The door clicked shut and the questions poured in.

"Demyx," My name, right off the bat. Not the nicest of greetings to give someone like me in a mood like this... "Tell me what happened." I sighed.

"I was in my room, and Xigbar was gone. Zexion was in his room down the way, so I was by myself for a while. Then when Xigbar came back in, he took one look at me, and came at me."

"What did he do, Demyx?"

"Nothing, really. He just..." I stopped, not really wanting to tell this person I didnt even know. I sighed again. "He gave me this wierd look...like he was lucky that we were alone. He came up onto my bed and backed me into a corner, and he kept on coming closer. I guess he was really _wanted_ me or somethin'..." I was looking at the floor most of the time, but I looked up when she wrote something down.

"Did you want that?" She finally asked.

"No," I said quickly, she almost didnt have time to finish her question, that's how fast it was.

"I see. You can go. Thank you," I did as she said, and when I left I was told to sit down away from Xigbar, which I was more than thankful for. Zexion stopped me before he went in the room, though.

"Demyx," His voice was worried, I could tell, but I didnt say anything to him. I just sat down, and he went inside the room and shut the door behind him. I only looked at him once.

Waiting for something to happen felt like an eternity, partly because I knew Xigbar was only a little ways away from me, and it made me uneasy. I kinda spaced out the whole time, though. Either that or my brain ended up blacking out the waiting experience, because Zexion came out of the room in a minute or two and Xigbar went in past him. Zexion sat down next to me, and even though he didnt say anything out loud, the hug he gave me said everything that I needed to hear.

"Thank you, Zexion..." I whispered.

"Demyx, Zexion, come inside, please." I didn't hear her request so much as I heard Zexion rising from his chair, when he lent me a hand to get up. I took it mindlessly, following him into the room. We had to sit with me on one side of Zexy, and with Xigbar on the other, so there were no real chances of anything too bad. Again, I mostly stared at the floor.

"So, Ive questioned each of you, and Ive come to have my suspicions. But Im still going to have to talk this over with some others, so, until we have a final decision, Demyx is going to be staying in Zexion's dorm. This could take as long as a week to figure out...so, I recommend you go by the dorm and pack some clothes and things for yourself." She was talking to me, at the last part, and after that we were all taken back to the dorm I was supposed to be sharing with Xigbar. Zexion helped me pack some things I would need, and we were walking by ourselves to Zexion's dorm in a minute or two later. I didn't really feel like talking all that much, so the rest of the day was quiet, apart from a few sighs and things I made.

When it was time for bed, Zexion shut the lights off and I was content on the floor like I normally was. But I couldn't fall asleep like I normally could. I dont have any idea how late I was up, but it wasnt like I had classes the next morning. So I guess it doesnt really matter.

"Demyx," Zexion said my name like he knew I was awake. "I apoligize for having to put you through all of this. But it's to keep you safe. I will not allow you to go back to that room with him, do you understand?" I didnt have anything to say. Or, I didnt _know _what to say. I got on my knees and shuffled over to Zexy's bed, giving him a hug.

"Thank you," I held on to him for a long time, and I don't remember laying back on the floor to sleep.

It was a whole week before we were allowed to go back to our classes, and we had lots of homework to turn in to our teachers. They would come by to drop off assignments, but they never took the old ones away. Neither of us could find out why. I dunno about Zexion, but it didnt really bug me all that much afterwards. And of course, when we went back everyone was asking us where we were for such a long time. Even the people we didn't know were asking. I had someone with really short blonde hair complete with a beard and mustache come up to me and ask me where I was.

"Uh, 'ya know, family emergency..." That was my only excuse. The bearded man just raised an eyebrow and pulled out a deck of cards, looking at me one more time, and then walking away. He was kinda wierd. Later I found out his name was Luxord, and that he and Zexion had a class together. He was trying to find out what had gone on, I guess. Lots of people were. In the end, they all turned out to be in the same crowd, and over time, we all became decent friends. Oh, yeah, and I was moved from Xigbar's dorm and into Zexion's, so I didn't have to deal with him anymore.

Around halfway through the year, all kinds of interesting things started happening. Axel introduced us to his roomate after the long time. He was small and blonde, and he always had bedhead hair. He wasn't too bad in the looks department, either. His name was Roxas, and he and Axel were like two peas in a pod. You couldnt get those two away from each other. It was funny, it reminded me of Zexy and myself.

But besides that, I got myself a job in Twilight Town at the train station. I had to work almost every day after school was out until halfway through the nightshift, then I came back to the school to do my homework and then it was bedtime, so my day was always full of things to do. But I wasn't really complaining. After all, I had munny, awesome friends, and most of all, I had Zexion. Life couldnt have been better! That is, until I got my boss to give Zexion a job with me.

"How on earth did you manage to convince me to do this?" Zexion was the one who took records of everyone who got a train ticket, he kept the tabs on everything; when we clocked in and out, how many tickets had been sold that day and where they were going, what time the train for that ticket would leave, and he kept constant check to make sure people were doing their jobs right. I guess you could say he was the busiest of us all.

"Aw, don't complain," I said, handing someone their ticket. "Thank you, have a nice ride!" I turned back to Zexy. "At least you _have _a job, right? You're making munny!" I laughed, but he only smirked and continued doing whatever it was he was doing.

"Demyx," He said after a few minutes. "What time does that clock read?" He pointed to the clock that was hung on the wall in front of me, not looking up from his work.

"It's 5:32 on the twelve hour clock, and 17:32 on the twenty-four hour one." He sighed.

"It's nearly rush hour," He said with grief. It was the most tiring part of the day for the both of us, the only ticket-taker (me) and the only writer-down-er-er (Zexy). "I say we take a quik break. Put up the sign, would you?" I nodded, and reached under the desk in front of me to pull out a "Back in 5" sign and stuck it in front of the window. I ran after Zexion, who was already out of the room. We stood outside the station for a few minutes, watching the sunset the whole time.

"I don't think Ill ever get tired of watching this." I said, without really realizing it.

"You think so?"

"Mhm."

"I see."

"Hey, Zexion?"

"Hm?"

"Are you alright?" He turned to look at me, with that "what are you talking about" face.

"Of course. What makes you think otherwise?"

"Well," I shrugged. "I dunno. You just seemed to be acting kinda funny after the whole "Xigbar" thing."

"Oh? I havent noticed. I apologize, but Im fine." With that he rose and went back inside. Our five minutes must have been up, but when we went back, there was no one waiting for a ticket. It wasn't for another fifteen minutes or so until the regular around of people came through to get their tickets to return home.

"One adult for the train back to Sunset Hill, please."

"Sunset Hill? Alright, here you go, sir. Zexion, one adult, Sunset Hill at...uh..." I looked at the clock. "At 18:03! Hello, ma'am. For Sunset Hill? Here you are. Zexion, one more, the same! Hi, sir. Three for Uptown Sunset? Here you all are, enjoy the ride. Zexion, three adults for Uptown Sunset at 18:04!" The night continued the same as it did every other night, rushing from 18:00 to somewhere around 20:20. Then things settled down, and we got back to a comfortable pace.

When it was time to start getting ready for us to leave so the other nightshift workers could come in, Zexion always collected his papers five minutes before the due worker came to replace him. He would tell me to accept no further tickets until the other worker came to take records in his place, and then he disappeared into a small, closet-sized room that had a big file cabinet, and he put the papers where they needed to be.

"Hey, wait, Zexion!" The door closed behind him, cutting off my words. I couldnt find one of my papers for school, so I thought it might have gotten mixed up in Zexion's records of the night. I sighed, stretching. I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Demyx, I think that something of-" I ran so hard into Zexion that I tripped over his feet and we both fell into the closet, with me on top of him. There was no room for me to really move out of the way, being that the room was so small, but then again I didnt even know the position I was in until my head cleared, I had hit it on a stool on my way to the floor, and I guess it blacked me out for a second or two. But when I opened my eyes I was staring two inches from Zexion's face. His eyes were wide and mine probably were too, and when I felt my face get red and hot I scrammbled up off of him as quickly as I could, with him following my every move. Standing, he wiped himself of the dirt as if it never happened, and picked up the paper he held before we had fell.

"Demyx," He started again, me rubbing my head. "I think that something of your's got mixed in with my records. Please, keep your things away from the records. I dont like when things get mixed."

"Sorry..." He stared at me for a second or two more, but not in the eye. I don't think he was really looking at my face, because a second later I felt something sliding down my forehead, and when I touched it my finger came back with blood on it.

"Ah!" I looked around for something to wipe it off on, but there was nothing but paper, then Zexion held a box of tissues up to me, and I grabbed a few of the tissues and wiped it up as best as I could without a mirror, and like it was planned the other workers came in and told us to leave.

"One moment, if you'd be so kind," Zexion then took out a few tissues by himself and put them over where the wound was on my forehead. "Hold it there. When you need more, tell me and Ill have this box ready for you. Now, let's get walking. We can get you a bandage when we pass the liquor store on the way out of town."

"Th-thank you, again, Zexy."

"It's nothing. Let's go." I used up most of the tissues by the time we got back to the school.

"Owwww!"

"Hold still."

"Owwie that hurtss! Ow, ow oww!"

"That is the smallest head wound I have ever seen to produce so much blood."

"How big is it?"

"You can barely call this a scratch."

"Oww!"

"There. You big baby." Zexion put the bandaid on my forehead after he disinfected it, which really hurt, but right afterwards we needed to get our homework done and then go to bed. It was only two hours before the new day started, and we had a lot of stuff to do still. I didnt get everything done, though.

"Oh, man. Im gonna have to do this in class tomorrow..."

"Stop your whining and get changed, we have to sleep."

"Heyy..." I looked up at him from the spot I was sitting in. He had been ruder than he usually was to me, and I wasn't having a lot of fun with it. But I didnt ask anything until after he shut the lights off.

"Zexion?"

"What is it, Demyx?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" I heard him rustle around a bit and then turn on the lamp at his side. He looked me dead in the eye.

"Yes."

"Then why have you been so wierd lately?" I was looking right back at him the same way he was looking at me, which I think surprised him a bit, because he didn't answer me right off the bat like usual.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since that thingy happened with Xigbar, you've changed. I don't know what it is, but first it just seemed like it would be a temporary thing. But more and more often you've been really mean to me. I don't like it, Zexy." He said nothing but,

"Don't call me that." And it caught me off guard. He turned around so that his back was to me.

"What?"

"I said don't call me that."

"But...Ive always called you Zexy,"

"Well, now you won't."

"See?" I sat up on my bed, looking at his back. "There! That's what Im talking about! You just said something really mean to me, and you just blew me off like I wasn't anything at all! There's something wrong with you," He reached behind himself and shut off the lamp. "and you're not telling me what it is, Zexion!" He was quiet for a long time. So long, that I was tired of waiting for an answer from him and laid back down on my pillow. But I didn't want to sleep yet, I wanted to see if he was going to answer.

_And Ill stay up all night if I have to._

He didn't answer me for a few hours, and when I could barely manage to stay awake any longer, he said,

"You remember when you asked which school I was going to attend this year? Maybe it would have been best if I had never told you."


	8. VII Getaway

Meh. Its short, but it's to the point. I just wanted to get Demyx's point of view on the whole thing, so...here's this short thing for your enjoyment.

As normal...I dont own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - Getaway

The day came and went, and before I knew it, it was time for Demyx and I to retire. The both of us had been silent for most of the day, which was sort of odd, but it _was _becoming rather common.

After we patched up his forehead, we quickly did whatever school work we could manage and get to bed. Luckily, I finished mine, but Demyx had not. He sat there, just complaining about it. To be honest, it irritated me. It was only a fast remark, but it got on my nerves. I found myself snapping at him directly after.

"Stop your whining and get changed, we have to sleep." He did what he was told, and I looked away. Just as I was to reach to shut off the lamp at my side, he caught me off guard.

"Heyy, Zexion?" He called to me, looking at me with seriousness in his eyes.

"What is it, Demyx?" I sighed, not wanting to have any sort of conversation at the moment.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes."

"Then why have you been so wierd lately?" I looked back at him, a glare working its way across my features.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since that thingy happened with Xigbar, you've changed. I don't know what it is..." I stopped listening to him. All he was doing was complaining again. I didn't listen, I didnt _want_ to listen. Eventually, I came back to my attention. "...been really mean to me. I don't like it, Zexy." I snapped.

"Dont call me that." After a moment, he responded.

"What?"

"I said dont call me that."

"But...Ive always called you Zexy,"

"Well," I turned around, my back facing him. "now you won't."

"See?" I heard him shoot up in his covers, criticizing me. Out of plain courtesy, I listened. I must admit, I was interested in what Demyx was going to say to me so boldly. "There! That's what Im talking about! You just said something really mean to me, and you just blew me off like I wasn't anything at all! There's something wrong with you," I said nothing, only shut the lamp off, trying to black out his effort. But it didn't cease. He was determined, and that was something Demyx never had, "and you're not telling me what it is, Zexion!" Determination.

I was awake for hours, and I assume he was, because he was rustling, trying to stay awake. I just didnt have any real answer for him.

For one thing, after that Xigbar problem, that man's words had been engraved into my head. _Someone's JEALOUS._ And I was, only, I wasnt willing to admit it. I was always nervous around Demyx, and the thing in the closet when he fell on top of me, even though it was completly accidental, I...I don't know. I thought I felt something for him, but I didnt say it. I suppose that's the reason behind my silence for the night. Finally, I swallowed my pride, and spat an unexpected answer at him.

"You remember when you asked which school I was going to attend this year? Maybe it would have been best if I had never told you." I could feel his sudden dismay, and on the surface, I didnt care. But it hit me hard in the heart when I saw him wake up with that look on his face the next morning.

Demyx hardly spoke to me after that. He was fired from work for slacking off, and he was quiet most of the time. He started bringing his guitar to lunch break to play instead of conversing with the rest of us, and remained that way for another week before he starting showing interest in life again.

"Hey," The blonde-haired Larxene ran up to the group one day with Marluxia at her side with news. "Did you hear what happened to Axel?" Everyone's attention was on the two of them.

"Nah, what?"

"Spill it!"

"Axel ran off last night," Marluxia said. "He ran away without saying anything to anyone, and the school's gone out to search. So far, they havent been able to find him!" I saw Roxas put his head down, as far as I had known, those two were the closest of friends. It must be hurting him bad, not knowing where he was. Instinctively, I looked to Demyx, who had his eyes glued to Marluxia and Larxene, wanting more information. When none came and other gossip ensued, his interest fell and he went back to playing his guitar.

After classes were finished we returned to the dorm. I had the day off, so I didnt need to rush. I completed my homework at a leisurely pace, every once and a while sneaking glances at Demyx. He was trying to do his work, but something was distracting him. He had actually been finishing his work after my little remark, but now things were different. I felt like I needed to figure it out, as hypocritical as I may have been.

"Demyx." I said his name like a command, but he did not answer. "That news today, with Axel. What triggered in your mind after hearing that?" He dropped his pencil and looked me right in the eye.

"I think you know the answer to that, already, Zexion." He said my name like it was a curse, spitting it out with distaste. Well...I had done more damage than I had thought. I rose from my spot on the bed and went over to Demyx, staring him right back.

"I don't know what you think you're going to do," I started. "but don't think you'll be able to leave without my knowing, or without my tracking you down. Im not going to have my only real friend in this world be lost because of some mistake I made." He glared at me, wanting to fight. Before anything erupted, I backed off and sat back down on my bed to read for the remainder of my night. On many accounts, I hear Demyx utter something under his breath, but I paid no attention to it. It was not until another week later than he tried to make any sort of move.

Demyx had managed to run to the bathroom during our last class, and successfully miss the remaining half of it. Later, I found out that he had been back at our dorm, but for reasons I was unable to figure out until two nights later.

It was on a night nicer than normal, the air was warmer than it had been in the past few days, and the wind was minimal. Like I said, it was a nice night. Demyx tried to sneak past me in the middle of the night, but he ended up waking me. I am a very light sleeper, so it was only natural that the sound of his mattress squeaking woke me. But something told me to stay quiet, and to pay attention. I followed that feeling, and heard Demyx turn the doorknob, and leave the room. I waited for only two seconds before shooting up out of bed, snapping on my lamp and looking at the time.

2:17am.

He was trying to make his grand getaway. But like I had said, I didnt plan on letting him. I kept my word, and dressed as quickly as possible. I opened the door only three minutes of his leave, and headed out in the direction of Twilight Town. After all, why would he be going deeper into the school grounds to run away? He would surely have been found, that way. I knew Demyx all too well, I knew exactly where he was headed.

I saw his shadow walking away in the distance. He had a bag over his shoulder, and he was walking quickly. I kept my pace, but for the most part, I stayed in shadowed areas. If he were to look back to make sure no one was following him, he would not be able to see me hiding. For now, I was just following him, I had no intention of bringing him anywhere just yet. Unfortunately, we ended up hiking all the way past the Haunted Mansion in Twilight Town, and into the forest behind it. Deep, deep into the forest, for that matter. I had to take care to be extra quiet, for I couldnt be snapping any unwanted twigs. That would have given away my position, of course.


	9. VIII Heartpounding

Its short...very short. But the way this ends will leave you BEGGING for more, so here all you lovely folks go.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way, shape, or form (Oh, but how I wish...).

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - HEARTPOUNDING

_Axel ran away..._ That line kept repeating in my head for the rest of the day, ever since I heard Marluxia say it. It got my mind thinking, actually.

_Its not like Zexion would care, anymore,_ I would think. _Its prob'ly best if I ran away anyway..._ That's when I started to plan my getaway, but I knew better than anyone it would be one hell of a mission to get past Zexion without him knowing. The worst part was that he was suspicious of me. He came right out and said something about it, right to my face and out of the blue.

"Demyx," I thought that he would have apologized to me, but he didnt. He said my name like he was demanding something of me, and I didnt like it. "That news today, with Axel. What triggered in your mind after hearing that?" I put my pencil down on my homework and looked him straight in the eye. If he wasnt going to be nice to me, I wasnt going to be nice to him.

"I think you know the answer to that, already, Zexion." I spat his name like it was a bad taste in my mouth, but I saw no real effect come over him. Of course not, no, he's Zexion, he doesnt have emotions, I forgot. He was becoming such a heartless guy I was surprised we used to be so close. His voice was full to the brim with anger when he spoke.

"I don't know what you think you're going to do, but don't think you'll be able to leave without my knowing, or without my tracking you down. Im not going to have my only real friend in this world be lost because of some mistake I made." His only real friend? Yeah, right. That's why he was treating me like trash. Then he turned away, and I went right back to finishing my work. I not only had to keep up doing what I was already doing to stay under the radar, but I had to plan everything down to the last hair. It was the only thing I had really cared about in a long time.

Another week or so went by before anything was finished. I wasnt expecting it to take so long, but I figured I had to be careful, so waiting for that time was alright, I guess. Anyway, in the middle of the night I snuck out with my things, but I dont know if I woke Zexion up. I hoped I didnt, because he'd be coming after me. If he was true to his word like he used to be, I would have a hard time getting him off my trail.

I walked out of the school's campus as quickly as I could without being noticed, and started for Twilight Town. Originally, I had planned to go to that old Haunted Mansion out in the woods, but something told me it would be a better idea to stay away from that place, so instead I headed up to a place I had found a long time ago in the woods behind the Mansion. It was a hike, but it didnt matter to me at the time, I just wanted to get away from the school. When I got to the place and set my stuff down to relax, though, it seemed like my only safe haven. There was a curve in the side of the mountain that gave me a small cave-like place to be more or less sheltered by, with five feet or so of walking room in front of it before it dropped down into a deep and dark ravine. I had tried, many times, as a kid to see the bottom of it, but about halfway down and before it was a little too dark to make anything out, there were a bunch of trees and bushes and other plants that made a canopy over the bottom of it, so I never found out what was really down there. And as clumsy as I was now, I wasnt planning on looking over that edge anytime soon.

The wind at the place I had stopped was just light enough to be cooling after my long hike, and I honestly thought Zexion had not followed me. Then, I heard footsteps coming closer to me from the woods, and I started to panic. But when Zexion's shadow came out of the trees, my panic went to rage. I stood to my feet, confronting him.

"Why did you follow me?" There was no love in my voice, no care for the man I had once thought of as my brother. To tell you the honest truth, I had grown to hate him these past months.

"I told you, I wasn't going to let you run away. I live up to my word."

"Well, why don't you stop that?" I burst. "Im grown up enough to do what I want and I dont need you bossing me around like Im five years old!"

"Im not, Demyx. Im here to keep you safe from hurting yourself."

"Im not going to hurt myself!" My fists were clenched and I was raging mad. I didnt want him to be here. He needed to leave.

"Demyx, listen to me," I felt drops of water on my cheeks and looked up to the sky, the clouds were covering the moon and it had begun raining. I looked back to Zexion, a glare stuck on my face.

"No! I won't listen! Not to-"

"You're being irrational-"

"-someone who doesnt even care about me!" I jumped forward and tackled him to the ground. We rolled over and over, me, trying to hit him and him, trying to dodge me. I was blinded with rage, nothing on my mind but the fact that I didnt like Zexion. He said some things but I couldnt hear them, we rolled over twice more and suddenly I found myself being pulled down by gravity. Time slowed down in my mind as I realized what had just happened; I was falling off of the cliff and into the revine. Everything was a blur, I had no time to think. I thought I was going to die, but when I stopped falling, I looked up and saw Zexion, holding me up by the wrist, keeping me from falling to my death.

"Demyx, you overexaggerating _idiot _would you _LISTEN_ to me?" He was angry, teeth gritting together and using all of his strength to try and hold me. "Dont you _dare _say I dont care about you! You, of all people should know that I _stand by _my word no matter what the consequences are!"

"Then why have you been so heartless!" I demanded.

"Because I didnt want you to-" The clouds thundered, making Zexion look like a shadow against the night sky for only a second. He stood up from his kneeling position, using his strength to pull me up only a little. I was eye-level with his shoes and saw the rain-soaked mud slipping out from underneath him. I clawed at the wet ground to pull myself on the cliffside but it didnt work, and when I handed my weight back to Zexion he slipped on his back and we went sliding downward. I tried to cling to the mud but it slipped through my fingers each time until there was nothing to grab on to anymore, and before I knew it we were falling into the bottomless pit of the revine with no way of getting back.


	10. IX Trapped

Sorry for such the long wait...especially with that cliffhanger and all. Anyway, here's the next chapter, things are getting JUICY. Hope you like!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts...:/

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - TRAPPED

I could feel my feet slipping through the mud, but I had to get Demyx back on the cliff. I couldnt just let him fall, who know what could have been down there? But even as those thoughts came and went through my mind, I knew at the same time that I wasnt going to be able to succeed. He was clawing the mud in front of him, trying desprately to get back, but when he failed, and all of his weight had to be supported by me, it was such a sudden change my foot slipped and we both went tumbling down into the revine. Demyx was screaming next to me, twisting in the air. I watched him, steadying myself and trying to get my back towards the trees below, but I was not able to.

The trees were closing in, and Demyx and I covered our faces and closed our eyes, hoping everything would be alright when we reached the bottom. We were tumbling against hard and sharp twigs, slamming against thick branches and rolling through the blind trees for what seemed like hours instead of just mere seconds. I fell out of the trees and onto the cold ground on my back, having the wind knocked out of me. Demyx was already on the ground, trying to get up from his weak hands and knees. Gasping, it took me a full minute or two to regain my breath, by which time Demyx was mostly back to his normal sorts. He was staring at me with sad and fearful eyes, like he was about to cry. I gave him my stare, but I wouldnt be able to tell you what it was like.

"Zexion..." He whispered my name, waiting to hear confirmation to a situation he did not want to be in. I simply nodded.

"Here we are,"

No words were spoken for a very long time. Demyx was sitting across from me, huddled in a ball. All around us, there was nothing but trees and bushes. We had landed on a dirt ground, thank goodness, that had been covered with grass, most likely due to the trapped moisture in the revine. There was only one small opening in the canopy above us, and it was the one we had fallen through. It let in only a small amount of light, but it was light nonetheless.

On the way down, we had suffered many injuries. The worst one I had was a deep wound from landing right on a branch that had a thicker twig broken off of it earlier, there was an impressively deep, half-inch or more, stab wound that had ripped part of my sleeve and went right into my upper arm. When I first landed, I felt the pain, but I did not see the severity of it until I saw the amount of blood gushing from it. Of course, I did have my share of minor scratches wherever my skin wasnt covered. So, mostly my arms and half of my face. Demyx, on the other hand, had no wounds as bad as the one I had, but did have one long scratch across his face, which he was not happy about, as well as the other, smaller injuries he suffered.

All in all, we were both pretty beat up, if I do say so myself. And neither of us had anything to bandage or clean ourselves with, Demyx's bags were left on the cliff, unfortunately. Setting all negative aspects of the fall aside, I glanced at Demyx. He had his head down in his folded arms, silent. I couldnt help but sigh.

"Demyx," He did not look up. I narrowed my eyes from my determination and continued anyway. "I know as well as you do that this may not be the best time for confessions, but-"

"I did it because I wanted to see if anyone would miss me..." I stopped.

"What?"

"I...I wanted to see if, well..." He turned his head, laying it down sideways across his arms. "...if I would be missed by anyone. Whether or not Id be missed by _you,"_ I didnt have anything to say to him in reply. There were no words. I just wanted to tell, or, rather, _try _to tell him, what was wrong with me. But I had no idea myself, so it would have been near impossible.

"Demyx, listen, I..." My voice faded, and I sank into thinking. After a moment I spoke once again. "What could have possibly made you think that I wouldnt miss you for a second after I found out you left without a word?" I heard his movement, and I felt his eyes on me, but I was looking up at the moon through the break in the trees. It was starting to fade from view. It would be dawn soon enough.

"Well...when news about Axel came, I kinda started thinkin' what could have made him go. Roxas wasnt the same, he didnt even talk or look up when Larxene and Marly said something. I guess...I guess I thought he was running away because he didnt want to be around. Then...I thought about me, and I figured, in the end, that _I_ didnt want to be around. So, I guess...that excuse earlier was just spur of the moment," He had a laugh at the end of his statement. Im not sure, but I think smiled a little.

"Well, guess what, Demyx?" He waited for me to finish, I knew it. "When you woke up to leave, I was waiting." I looked down at him, staring him right in the eyes, "And the very second you left I was out of bed and ready to chase you wherever you were going. I have hardly gotten a wink of sleep for days. I was waiting for you to run. And for the first minute you were gone, there was nothing else on my mind but you." He looked at me with eyes full of affection, like it was the happiest thing he had ever heard.

"For days?"

"I have been awake for nearly five days. The only time I have rested was for ten minutes at the end of two of my classes. In all honesty, I am surprised I havent started hallucinating."

"Zexion...why," He unfolded his arms and legs, inching closer to me. "Why did you do that?"

"You are my only friend. My best friend, and my brother. I couldnt let you do this to yourself."

"Im sorry,"

"Do not say you are sorry," He was visibly taken aback at this. "This is not a time for apologies."

"Then what _is _this the time for?"

"The truth." There was silence. Neither of us spoke for a minute or two, but Demyx moved and came to sit next to me. After a while, he said something.

"I wasnt right," He said. "I thought you hated me and didnt want anything to do with me, anymore. I was...Im so stupid for thinking something like that, I..." He stopped, on the verge of tears. "You're the only one who has ever been this close to me, Zexion, if anything'd happen to you, Id...Id...I dont know what Id do..." He buried his face in his arms, trying to hide from me that fact that he was crying. I knew it, though. I know him better than he knows himself, and he knows me better than I do. I had to go around to the other side of him to put my uninjured arm around his shoulder. He looked up and saw my arm, which was coated with blood, at that point.

"What did you do to your arm?" He asked, sniffling.

"It must have happened when I hit one of the trees when we were falling. I believe Ive broken it,"

"Do we have anything to fix it?"

"We cant fix a broken bone, Demyx."

"Then...we can splint it, right? I can get some sticks and, and Ill rip this-" He grabbed hit jacket, which was ripped when his arm was hurt. "and we can tie the fabric around the sticks, and..."

"We need to find a source of water," I stood and looked up, straight through the canopy. "Its still raining. And because everything down here seems to be green enough, that means there is a way the water is getting through the tops of the trees. We have to find something. We don't know how long we will be down here, come to think of it..." I thought. "Speaking of which...hm. And, it's almost dawn..." I looked at Demyx, who was looking around himself for something. He turned around to me with the smallest trace of a smile.

"Let's get some leaves and pick a spot to sleep and when we wake up tomorrow we can make a shelter and find what we need. Come here, into the light so I can see. Look, Ive got some sticks. Give me your arm." For once, Demyx was taking reasonable action. I chuckled, lifting my arm in the least painful way away from my body so he could put the sticks where they needed to be. I held them in place when he ripped his jacket, and he tied the torn cloth around the sticks firmly. It took us only a little while to find what was sutible to sleep on for that time, and we used what we could of his jacket as some form of cover for the two of us when we slept.

It was a cold night, but we made it by well enough to live the next day, and the morning was just as frigid. But like we had agreed on, before, we set off in search for water. I dont know how long we were looking, although it seemed like a very long time. When we couldnt find anything in the way we were traveling, we turned around and went back to our spot. We were not able to see the sun too well, so there was no way to estimate the time. Even so, I went in search of leaves and plants and things of the like, (after all, I only had one useful arm) and Demyx went to gather branches and sticks that we could use to make a shelter of some sort. But everything was much harder than we thought it would have been.

Once most of the things we needed were gathered together I had to think of a way for the two of us to use what we had and make it into an entire shelter big enough for the two of us. I wanted us to stay where we had fallen through, then there was at least some form of visibility and light, plus people may have a better chance at finding us. But even with multiple attempts at a standing shelter, only to have them fall down plan after plan, the one thing we got to work successfully was a lean-to style shelter where there was only enough room to sit up at the front, and lay our heads in the very back. We made a roof and bed for ourselves with various leaves and long grasses from other parts of the revine, and we tried to make some form of blanket by weaving long leaves in and out of each other, but they did not turn out as we expected. All together, we had made five four-by-four leaf "blankets" that we made one bigger blanket by tying the corners and sides together with thick plants. Sure, it wasnt too warm, and it was itchy as hell, it would have to do. We needed to survive, and if sleeping with itchy leaves at night meant survival, that's what we would go with.

We drank the excess water and dew from the leaves in the trees in the morning, and used what we could to bathe ourselves. We ate the same leaves as our only food. Nights were cold, and safety was almost a luxury. Night was when we had to be the most careful. There was a time when Demyx had awakened in the middle of the night to find a squirell destroying the skin of his leg, and that had convinced us to switch our watch hours for a few days.

"Hey," Demyx said one night.

"Hm?" I turned over, for I was lying down, to see him.

"What do you think of our friends?"

"What?" That was a very out-of-the-blue question. "Well, anyone specific?"

"Hm, Luxord, Marly, Larxene..."

"Luxord is clever, which is admirable, but is a drunken bastard most of the time. Marly and Larxene are clones of one another, always searching for drama and gossip like it is the air they breathe,"

"What about Roxas and Axel and Xaldin? And Sora and Riku?"

"Xaldin I do not mind. Come to think of it, I hardly see the man. Roxas and Axel are by far the two easiest people to be around. They're not like the rest of them, whatsoever. Sora seems rather mindless and carefree, but with Riku clinging to his side it seems to mellow him down quite a bit. Riku is quiet, and keeps to himself as I do. I dont really have any strong thoughts about him, though,"

"Then what do you think about Xemnas, Brother Lexy, Saix and Xig-"

"I would rather not be around Xemnas. He's too leaderly, like a dictator, with Saix right by his side. Lexeaus is quiet, so I really have no literal problems with him," I fell quiet, not wanting to talk about Xigbar. I could feel Demyx's emotions, it was a mistake he had said the name, and now he was regretting it. I took a deep breath, and spoke my thoughts about him. "Xigbar is a thoughtless, inconsiderate piece of mongrel rubbish," I said in tones of irritation. "He only thinks for himself, and thinks the world revolves around him. He would go out of his way to hurt someone for his own gain without a second thought..." My words drifted out to silence.

"And, me?" Demyx whispered. I sat up. "What do you think about me?" He turned to look at me, and I felt my face get red. Thank goodness it was dark. I sighed, thinking.

"Well, what about you? What do...what do you mean?"

"Tell me what you think of me, like you did with the other's." Again, I sighed.

"Well," I thought, leaning back on my elbows and looking up. "You...are the best friend anyone could ask for. You may not be the brightest, or wittiest person out there, but anyone who has the honor of meeting you will never forget your face. Sure, you're clumsy and tend to do things that are not of the smartest option, but I don't care. Without all of that, you would be just another walking human being, with nothing to say about you. It's a good thing you're the opposite, which, I suppose, is probably why I-" I stopped short. I was rambling, my mind was gone and I was now in a situation I did not want to be in. Demyx was questioning me, begging me to finish. I said not a word for a long while. When he finally gave up, I spoke.

"On a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want to know what I was going to say?"

"At least a seven," He smiled at me, eyes glistening in the dark. Well, fantastic. He wanted to know badly, but I really did not want to tell him. I sighed.

"Demyx, if I told you a secret of mine, would I be able to trust you with it?"

"Mhm! Cross my heart!" He was excited, smiling widely and pulling his fingers across his chest in an X.

"I don't know if you have been able to see it for all of this time, but, do you know the reason I turn down all of those girls who have the courage to come after me?"

"Hmm, because you dont like any of them?"

"No, no...Demyx, not that. Well, sort of that, but, not exactly. It's more of a...general sort of thing."

"General?"

"Yes...as in, 'generally, I don't like those...girls...' Understand?" I didnt mean to beat around the bush, but I must confess, I was feeling rather nervous telling him all this.

"I...guess,"

"Then what do I mean?"

"Huh? Oh, um...I think it means that you...you don't like girls?" I sighed. This was one of his smart days, thank goodness. I nodded. We were quiet, and I was afraid that he was frightened. "Oh, I knew that a _long _time ago!"

"W-what?" That certainly surprised me.

"Hehe, yeah! I knew it a while back,"

"You, you did? How!"

"Did you really think that I would think that you turn down pretty girls everyone else would die to be with just because you didnt like them?" I stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes." That was a serious answer. I didnt care about any of them...

"Oh...well, I always caught you sneaking glances and other guys, which is why you were so nervous to change in front of me." He stuck out his tongue and giggled at me.

"H-hey!" I blushed. "You...well, what about you? What are you like?" It was more of a demand for an answer than a question. But surprisingly, Demyx didnt hold back his answer.

"The same as you,"

"What! How come I didnt know this?"

"Why didnt you want to tell me about _you _until I asked?" He was enjoying himself a bit too much. I stopped bickering, and turned over to lay down.

"Im going to bed. You don't need to stay on watch if you don't want to. I think that squirell is done messing with us, Demyx." He shrugged his shoulders and agreed silently, but I got uneasy when he layed down beside me.

"Can you finish what you were gonna say before?" He asked, just as I was calming down. Damn his timing. I said nothing for a short moment, and finally, just came out with it.

"I was going to say that it is a good thing you're not like every body else, and that that was probably the reason why I..." I swallowed in nervousness. "Why I...sort of...really, like you..." Nothing was said. I bit my lip, hoping he didnt think less of me or anything to that fact. Instead, I felt his happiness emenate off of him. He let a small, quiet giggle loose before saying the final words before we fell asleep.

"Same here,"


	11. X Desolate

Sorry for the long wait, Ive been kind of busy. This may seem small, but it's hefty. Enjoy!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - DESOLATE

I wish I hadnt run like I did. It landed me and Zexion in the worst possible place, and to top it off, he had a broken arm. I felt really guilty about it, but, I guess some good things came out of being trapped down where we were, even if it was hard to live. At one point, we got in a heated talk about how we were feeling about the people we were always around. I asked Zexion all the questions, but he only asked me one question just so he had something to say.

"What are you like?" It made me wanna laugh, he sounded mad but sort of happy that I had known what he thought about girls all these years.

"The same as you," I answered pretty fast, but it wasnt like I had anything to hide.

"What! How come I didnt know this?"

"Why didnt you want to tell me about _you _until I asked?" I felt like I laughed at the end a bit, but I dunno. It caught Zexy off guard, though, and that was amusing. But he got quiet after that. He told me to just go to bed. I was supposed to be watching for any animal attacks, but there hadnt really been any since that one squirrel attacked me that one time...so I laid back and closed my eyes to sleep. But, first, I needed to know what he was going to say earlier. I couldnt let something like that go unanswered, after all!

"Can you finish what you were gonna say before?" In all honesty, I wasnt really expecting him to answer at all. I just thought he would be quiet and leave me hangin'. But, instead, there was hardly any pausing before I got the answer I wanted.

"I was going to say that it is a good thing you're not like every body else, and that that was probably the reason why I...why I...sort of...really, like you..."

When Zexion told me that...I couldnt help but smile. I felt all kinds of butterflies rise up and flutter around in my tummy, it made me wanna laugh a bit and smile a whole lot more than I already was. Its hard to explain just how it really felt, but if you've ever felt something that made you so happy, you wish you were able to feel even _more _happy than you already were, but your body just couldnt take it all at once, you'd know what I mean. It was like that. Again, there arent really words to explain it.

With all of my happiness and giddiness, I was being so quiet, I was getting scared that maybe I had made Zexion feel all awkward or shy or something. I felt a big grin come across my face, and then I said something Im sure he wasnt expecting!

"Same here," Even though he couldnt see it, I had a pretty big smile on my face.

The next morning we woke up to a bunch of water getting poured on us. I jumped up and cleared the water from my face and looked at its source. It was raining, and there was a whole in the roof of our shelter.

"Aww, man!" I crawled out from under our now wet shelter and tried to see how bad it looked from the outside. Apparently, one of the sticks we had tied together with another one had come loose. Zexion said that because of that, the water that had been building up right there got heavy and fell through. And it didnt really help that it was still raining, either.

"Calm down, Demyx," Zexion said. "It's not as if this is irreparable. For now, I say we take advantage of this rain and get whatever we can from the leaves. We havent had the chance to bathe in any sort of decent way in a long time. Then we can focus on fixing the roof. Hopefully by then, the rain will have stopped."

"Alright," I went into the trees to a place that had had a lot of water pouring into it somehow, and it always got caught on these certain kinds of leaves that made it easy for us to get a good amount of water. Zexion didnt follow me, so I dont know what he was doing. But I kind of got upset when I was by myself. It was like the stuff we had said the night before meant nothing, almost like we had never even said anything to begin with. I was kind of hoping things would change...

"Demyx," I heard my name being called, so I dumped a small leaf full of water on my head and face to wash off a bit. I felt so icky...

"Yeah?" I came back through the trees, looking around for Zexion. He was over by the shelter, just staring at it.

"Come over here. I need your help with this." When I got over there, he had worked out a solution to fixing the roof, although it still needed a bit more work after we had done his first step, which was to tie a third stick between the two that had become untied so it would be steadier. Then he had me go out and find some lighter sticks to put on top of the roof a few inches apart, then we would lay _more _sticks across those ones in the other direction so they crossed each other. After each layer of sticks he wanted us to put different kinds of leaves and grass so our roof would be stronger and more resistant. It worked, and then we both went off to get some water to wash.

The rain did not stop for the next day and a half. It rained from the morning we woke up to a hole in the roof, through that day and night, into the next morning and then the next night, and finally stopped when it was getting close to sunset. It was the wettest time we ever had, but we did come out of that little rainstorm feeling pretty clean.

"I wonder where they've looked for us?" I said during the second night, the same day the rain stopped.

"Hm?"

"I was just thinking about the school, and everyone up there. If they're looking for Axel and havent found him, I wonder if they've looked for us hard enough or if they just looked for us as the search for Axel was coming to a close."

"Why?" Zexion hadnt been watching me before, but he was now. I could feel his eyes on me.

"Because..." I didnt really know how to say what I wanted to, so I ended up being quiet for a little bit. "Why wouldnt they look up here?" I said it quietly, like a whisper. I was staring straight up into our leafy roof, just...sort of thinking about everything and nothing. Zexion propped himself up on his good, unbroken arm and watched me without saying anything. But I really, _really _wanted him to tell me something, anything. I wanted to hear that we were gonna be fine, we were gonna be rescued soon and that we would go back to the school or even back home and just...and just be okay. I wanted him to tell me that we would get out of the revine just fine, that he would fix his arm and that we would go back home together...

I got butterflies, the kind of butterflies you get when you're about to cry or tear up...

"Hey, Demyx, what's the matter?" When Zexion said my name I just couldnt contain it. I felt the first tear fall down my face and I quickly tried to wipe it away. But that only made more and more tears come, and I eventually just gave up trying to get rid of them. Zexion didnt say anything. He didnt say one word. Hell, he didnt even give me that reassuring pat on the shoulder he always used to whenever I was down. He just sat there. I couldnt bring myself to look at him. I turned my back to him and kept crying. I didnt care if he knew it, but when he didnt tell me anything to get my hopes up...I just cried.

"I wanna go home..." I sniffed, wiping more tears away. I must have fallen asleep shortly after wards, because I cant remember much else from that night.

For the next day or so, Zexion and I said hardly anything to one another. Nothing went wrong or needed mending, so there really _was _no reason to be talking. Zexion never usually talked to me unless I said something first, or if something needed attention. But me, on the other hand, I was just too mad to say anything to him that was worth it. But two days after that thing happened, he said something to me at night, like he normally did whenever something had happened between us.

"What is bothering you?" He was sitting up, and I was laying down with my back turned to him. I glared without looking at him when he asked, but I didnt say anything. He sighed. "May you please tell me what is occupying you so intently? Really, Demyx, am I not allowed to know?" I didnt say anything, but he kept pushing questions on me. Finally, I just snapped.

"You didn't _help _me!" I had cut him off in the middle of one of his questions, but now he was only staring at me.

"I didn't help you?"

"No! You didn't!"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"The other night! When I said that I was wondering where they had looked for us! I was, I was crying and you didnt do anything! You didnt...you didnt tell me anything. You didnt say things would be okay, you never told me we would come out of here together perfectly fine! You...you didnt...You didn't reassure me like you did before. All of those other times Ive been even just a _little _upset, you'd always be there with an arm around me and telling me that...that everything would end up fine when it all came to stop...You didnt even _say _anything...!" I was rambling...halfway through I didnt even know what I was saying and I just let everything come out. "Why?"

"You want to know why? You really, honestly wish to know?" I looked at him, because for once he didnt pause before asking me or saying anything, and it kind of surprised me. I nodded, and he sighed, looking away from me. "I have been thinking lately," He started. "about this whole situation that we've gotten ourselves into. We have been living off of leaves and grass for the past two and a half weeks, more than that. We go through each day risking dehydration, starvation, sickness. We have no resources, we barely have any light to live by. Anyone who was searching has probably long since ended the search for us. No one has come near here, and if they did, we would have known. They would have called out for us if they saw your bag up there. They would have tried looking down here. And no one has. No one has come here. No one is searching, and no one has any more hope for us. I did not say anything to you because I did not want to lie to you. I don't know if we will ever make it out of here. Demyx, I have a broken arm! I can't do anything! And with no one coming to look for us, how do you expect to get out of here? By risking your life to climb back up the cliff somehow? When we've been starving all this time? I didn't, I _couldnt _tell you we would be fine, because I dont think we will last too much longer. It is going to snow soon...and we have no way of living during the storms."

"We're a lost cause..." I said, mindless. I had been looking away from Zexion, taking in, for the first time, our real situation.

"Yes, Demyx..." He agreed with almost desperate relief.

"We...are we gonna die out here, Zexion...?"

"If you want me to be honest with you..." He began, looking at me, then looking away and laying down. "It has been colder each night. Winters here are early, and fierce. Blizzards are common, and we are caught in a very bad place. If the trees are covered, we are stuck in darkness and left to freeze. Our chances are one in a million. And I do not think we are going to survive for more than two weeks, Demyx."


	12. XI Risky

Heyy, I updated sooner this time! Ive been in the writing mood, so you guys are lucky. That, and this is coming to a close in a short time...Anyway, here is the latest installment of Plum Wings, it's kind of short and may be a bit boring, but just deal with it, you'll be itching for the next chapter. 3

I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - RISKY

Ever since the night Demyx cried and I was unable to help him, and even a few days previous to that event, I had been thinking about how low our rate of survival really was. At first, we were fine. We could have lasted a long while like that. But at that point, the winter nights hadnt become apparent. Now that they had...well, let's just say I was growing increasingly comfortable with my mortality, considering how likely it was that I was going to perish.

But it was harder than I thought it would have been to even try to _address_ Demyx about that fact. I had tried, but I could not bring myself to say anything about it until he ended up saying something to bring my mind back to the subject once more. So, I just had to come out and tell him. And, that is exactly what I did.

"I do not think we are going to survive for more than two weeks, Demyx." He had been watching me tell him reason after reason why, and I finally locked eyes with him. His mouth was slightly agape in what could only be thought of as surprise or shock. Slowly, he turned his head away and was looking ahead of him with a dead stare. His face killed me. I felt a pang in my heart, imagining what it was like for someone as sensitive as Demyx to have to deal with such a sufferable death...

"But, Zexion...isn't there any way, _any _way, to get out of here...?" His voice was trembling, with a hint of laughter in it to try and hide the fact of his fear. I only sighed, shaking my head.

"The only way is incredibly dangerous. And only _you _would be able to do it," Just then his eyes lit up and he shot his gaze at me.

"Tell me," He demanded. I shook my head.

"No," I said in a near whisper. I did not want him to get hurt. That was the last thing I wanted.

"You have to tell me," I was quiet for a moment. Then I looked at him, and his eyes told me all that needed to be said. He was going to get out of this place, and he was willing to do anything. I only put my hand over my eyes, not believing that I was about to tell him what to do. It was mindless when I said it, I couldnt hear myself speak. I blocked it out, hoping that because I couldnt hear myself, he wouldnt be able to, either. Of course, that was a childish hope.

"Is that all? That's easy!"

"No, Demyx. It's not..." My mind was realing with the possibilities of error, injury, imobility, fatality. And each one involved Demyx. If he were to fall, one of three things could happen.

One, he could fall and nothing but a few bruises would be there, nothing too big and it could be ignored.

"Yeah it is, Zexion. You've gotta trust me, I can do it!"

"Demyx, you don't understand the gravity of what could happen if you _can't."_

Two, if he fell, he would land the wrong way and either sprain, severely injure, or break a bone, the both of us would be out of commission to do anything to get us out of where we were, more than likely leading to eventual death.

"Don't be so negative. I can start in the morning, preparing stuff..."

And three, if he were to fall land in a certain way on a tree like I had with my arm...

"By God, Demyx, you're so _bullheaded...!" _

He could die.

But that did not stop him. Because the next morning he was awake before me, examining the trees and the cliffside we fell down. I couldnt stop him.

Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to say that he could die. He should have known what could happen. He's not the smartest kid you'll meet, but he was a pretty clever guy. Im sure he knew...in fact, I am almost positive that he knew, but he didnt want to face it the way I did.

"Demyx, are you sure you know what you are doing?" He was up in the trees, and how he got up there, I have no idea. But, there he was, like a monkey in a tree, weaving grasses, twigs, leaves, and whatever else he could find together to make a long rope-like thing. He must have been up for longer than I originally thought, based on how long he had managed to make this rope already.

"Of course I do!" He slung the rope over a thick branch, and eased himself out farther along the branch, putting all of his weight on the rope he made. I winced, thinking it would have broken right away. Surprisingly, it held him for a while. "See, Zexion? I told you I knew-" Just then, the rope snapped and he landed loudly on the ground a few feet below him. It only made those thoughts I had had earlier become more of a reality, seeing what it would look like if he really fell.

"What were you planning to use the rope for, anyway? The cliffside is too high for you to throw it up there and hope to catch it on something, you know."

"I...oh...Im not really sure..." He was slowly getting to his feet, wiping the dirt and grass from his clothes. He looked up at the tree he had fallen out of, probably thinking. But he disappeared a few moments later into the trees close to the cliffside. I followed him, and saw that he was climbing another tall tree. When he got to the top, I saw him extending his foot to touch the side of the cliff, and I felt my heart pound hard against my chest. Dirt was rolling down to the ground, but I could not really see what he was trying to do. My neck got sore after a while of trying to watch Demyx do whatever he was doing, and eventually, I had to sit down, he was taking so long. When he finally came down, he was filthier than normal and had a big smile on his face.

"I know what Im going to do," He said, panting.

"And what might that be?"

"Im going to climb up the cliff, like you said yesterday." I sighed.

"Has it ever occurred to you what would happen if you fell?"

"Well, I haven't really thought about it, no,"

"Dammit, Demyx...I don't want to see you get hurt."

"But you would risk me staying down here and doing nothing to get us out of here before the snow comes, and risk death, instead of probably just a small cut or two? C'mon, Zexion, Ill be fine! I already know how Im gonna do it. When I was up there, I dug out steps in the cliffside so my feet can stay in there, and I made other ones for my hands to hold on to. I figure I can get a whole bunch done in a day, and Ill be up there in no time!"

"Tch," I gave up. I knew there was no reasoning with him if he was already this far into that little plan of his. "Fine," I said after a while. "Then I suggest you get to it today. There are no clouds from what I can see, and if you let those steps go unused for too long they can break. That being said, you also can't make too many trips up those steps. You'll erode them if it takes you too long, which means you have to make serious progress, and should only be going up there three times at most. Understand?"

"Yep,"

"Good. Now, let's find you some food and water. You've got a lot of work to do, today. Ill stay down here and do everything else,"

"Okay, sounds good, let's get started!"

So, I set out in a part of the revine neither of us had really gone to, and I went pretty deep inside. I was picking the greenest and best leaves I could find from the trees, there was a certain tree I had found that had wonderfully soft leaves, and I picked as many of those as I could reach. When I brought them back for Demyx to try, it was like he was in heaven. Well, the closest thing to heaven he could get down here.

"These are _so good!"_ He was smiling and eating them like they were going out of style. I had a small smile across my face, but I soon got up to look for water and wander around for a bit. There was really nothing else to do, at the time.

For hours, Demyx was up in the tree, making progress with his steps. I didn't see him again until it was dark under the trees, and when he finally came down he said the sun had almost set all of the way, and how he wished I could have seen it.

"How many steps do you think you made?" I asked.

"I counted twenty, I didnt want to stop at an uneven number, it would have made things harder,"

"Good thinking, Demyx. Maybe you really do have a brain somewhere in that head of your's,"

"Heyy!" He sounded offended but I only chuckled. I knew he was faking, he was never a good actor.

"How many more steps do you think you'll need before you get close to the top, hm?" When I asked him this, I could tell that my voice was rather upset, because even though twenty steps sounded like a lot of progress, the revine was deeper than anyone really thought. I dreaded hearing his answer.

"I guess somewhere around...geez, I dunno. But I need a lot more than I thought..."

"I see," We were quiet for a moment. I was thinking about a way to make the process go a little faster, and even though it was not much, I came up with a little time saver. "Demyx, in the mornings, whenever one of us wakes up, we have to awaken the other. Then, we go out early and find as many leaves and things for you to eat, so you have plenty of energy to make those steps. And while you're up there doing that, I will be down here figuring out a way to gather good amounts of water. I have a new weaving idea that I want to try."

And the next day we did just what I had said. I was the first to wake, and as I had said before I woke him up right then and there. And right away, we went in different directions in search of the best leaves we could find. When we came back, we had a very nice amount. One could almost say we had a feast, but leaves are less filling than one may think.

When Demyx was finished eating, he went right to his tree and began working on the steps.

"My everyday goal is at least twenty steps! And I won't come down until I have _at least _that!" He disappeared into the treetops again, and soon dirt began to fall. I left him there as I had before, praying he would be alright. But I had my own things to tend to, and it would take me a long time, considering I still had a broken arm. You really have no idea how painful it is not to be able to move your most dominant arm, and if you do, just how agonizing it is. Every time I felt that pang, I couldnt help but wish we could escape the revine.

Each night, we asked each other about our progress. Demyx was making an average of twenty-six steps everyday, which was actually starting to worry me, because I knew he was getting higher and higher. I thank God that he is not afraid of heights. Meanwhile, I kept creating different designs and styles of baskets from leaves and sticks to try and collect water. The first one fell apart when I tested it, as did my second and third one. There was so much room for error, I did not get a working basket until my sixth try.

But even with my eventual basket success, I could not stop thinking about Demyx, climbing little by little up the cliff. He came back on the second day with a sunburn, but for once he made no complaints. It took five days for Demyx to have any sort of real confidence about reaching the top, which was a whole lot more time than I wished had gone by. I was only hoping that the bottom steps were not getting too messed up or broken up in any way. If he fell, it would be a nightmare...

"Zexion!" He called my name one day, and I got up from another basket and went over to his normal tree. He was in the midst of coming down, but I could not see his expression too well.

"What is it?" He jumped down and landed strongly on the ground, panting and covered with dirt, as usual.

"I can make it up there, to the top, tomorrow!" He was telling me this between breaths, he was so tired.

"How many more steps do you think it is?"

"I dunno, maybe only uh, ten more or something around there," His face showed excitement, but I had a few more questions to consider before I got my hopes up.

"What has the weather been like up there these past few days?"

"Um, yesterday it was sunny with a lot of wind, and today it was the same. The wind was a little colder, though." I nodded.

"Hm. Alright. I guess that's fine. Come on, we should get to bed. If what you say is correct, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, Demyx. When you complete those steps, do not come back down to tell me. Run right into the school and tell them what happened on your way back. Alright?" He smiled and nodded. That night, we had another one of those more personal conversations.

"Zexion?"

"Hm?" It was dark out, and the full moon was hovering in the gap in the canopy above. It was the only beautiful thing about the entire experience, seeing the moon.

"Why do you care so much about me?" That question...it caught me off guard. Demyx never asked those kinds of questions so seriously.

"What do you mean? Why _wouldnt _I care about you?"

"Well, I was thinking...and, like...you're always so worried about me, mostly just these past few weeks. I was wondering if it's only because you like me,"

"No, it's not."

"It's not? Then why?"

"I have told you before. You are my only friend, and at this time in my life, I would rather not lose the only important person to me. Down here, we have to watch out for one another. Hasnt the world taught you that, yet? People will always be there to knock you down...and you've always got to have that one friend who is there lending a hand to help you back up, whether or not they are put in danger..." After a while, I had lost my train of thought, and I found myself ranting on. I did not mean to do it, but when I saw the look on Demyx's face, I knew it was alright.

"Alright..."

"Demyx, I have something to ask you,"

"Yeah?"

"When you get out of here, tomorrow," I started, "what will you do? I mean, when you reach the top of the cliff and see the bright sun and everything familiar again, what do you think will happen?"

"Well, the first thing Im gonna do is get back to the school as fast as I can, because you're still gonna be stuck down here and we need to get you out, so Im gonna go to the office and explain everything. We'll have you out in no time!"

"That...isnt really what I meant."

"Then, what _do _you mean?"

"Its...kind of hard to explain. I can't really say it any better than I did previously," I was quiet, then closed my eyes for sleep. "Just, get some sleep. You've got your work cut out for you, tomorrow. We cannot afford any more days,"

"Right...well, goodnight, Zexion."

"Night, Demyx. See you in the morning."


	13. XII Release

Longer than usual, but it's worth it. Things are picking up again, and there is now more than one threat out on the behalf of someone's life. Have funnn!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - RELEASE

Before I knew it, I was wide awake at the first second I opened my eyes. It was the day that I was going to climb all the way up the steps, and out of the revine! I couldnt help thinking about it, everything I was doing was inspired by the fact that I was finally going to get to the outside. Well, the outside that wasnt at the bottom of a revine, anyway.

I ate as fast, and as many leaves as I could, and I did the same thing to try and get myself water. I didnt want to pass out halfway up from dehydration!

"Alright," I said, walking over to the place I usually got up into the tree. Zexion followed behind me.

"Demyx," I was already in the tree when he called for me, but I wasnt out of his view just yet. Only a few more steps and I would have been, though.

"Yeah?" Zexion looked up at me, and even though his face didnt really have any emotion on it, I could just, sense, what he was feeling.

"Be careful. Please," I smiled.

"Of course Ill be careful! Ive been careful this whole time, havent I?" He nodded, and I took my last good look at him before moving out of sight.

The tree was pretty high, but after getting on and off of it for a while, it was like a natural instinct to climb it, so I wasn't really scared of getting that high anymore. And it did help that I had been getting higher and higher up the cliffside. If I had had any fear of heights before, it was gone for sure, now.

I stopped before the first step in the cliff, leaning back against the tree and resting a little bit before my start. When I stopped panting I put my foot in the step I had made, and used the steps at eye-level for my hands so I wouldnt slip. It was almost like rock climbing, the only difference was there were no tough rocks and just a lot of shifty dirt. I hadnt told Zexion just what the cliffside was like, because if he had known how slippery it really was, I think he would have tied me down in the night to keep me from going up anymore. I have to admit, though, it was pretty dangerous...

My mind was focused on only climbing the cliff, and soon I was out of the canopy and in the open air. The higher I got, the more the wind and air started to hit me, and the colder I got. Even though cold sinks, it's not the same at the bottom of a humid revine. It was way warmer down there than it was on the side of the cliff with all of the wind hitting me. I got goosebumps almost right away, and a few times I had to keep myself from shaking when I got a chill because I didnt want to risk falling. At one point, I looked up at the sky, and it was covered with clouds. Not dark, stormy clouds, just normal ones, covering the sun and stuff. I guess it kind of made me colder, because the sun wasnt out. If it was windy and sunny at the same time, it wasnt so bad. But this was the worst weather I had to climb in.

Halfway up, I was getting tired, as I usually did. But it really didnt help that the cold wind was still there, bugging me. I started thinking when I was taking a rest right there, about the thing Zexion had asked me a little while back, about me getting out of the revine and to regular life again before he did. I can't really say for sure what was going through my head, I kinda spaced out. But when I stopped spacing I _do _remember that I was thinking about Zexion. I was thinking about how he was stuck down there until I brought back some help, but even then, there wasnt really telling how long it would take to rescue him. So, in all reality, he could still be stuck down there for weeks, the only difference would be is that they would be sending supplies down to him...but what if the snow came and blocked the canopy...

I was determined to get to the top of the cliff. I went right back to climbing, as fast and precise as my hands and feet would let me. It was a faster pace than normal, and when I got to the spot I had left off at the day before, my fingers dug into the dirt ahead of me like they never had before, making another step for me to put my foot in. I took one step up, and began making the next hole in the cliff with my other hand. It was the same way I had been making the steps before, only this time, I was doing it faster. I was within the reach of the top of the cliff sooner than I had thought I would be.

I had a smile on my face when I made the last two steps with my hands. My heart was beating fast when I climbed all the way up the steps and pulled myself on to the flat ground on top of the cliff. I was so happy, _so happy...!_ There's no way to explain how, just, really happy I was!

"I did it..." I heard myself. "I, I did it, I did it, I did it!" I laughed out loud, and it must have been because I was so glad to be out of that stinking revine! I was laying sprawled out in the dirt on the top of the cliff, the same place Zexion and I had fallen down all those nights ago. I was so happy! I couldnt stop smiling, and laughing just with joy and happiness! I forgot about Zexion.

But when his name suddenly popped into the back of my mind, I stopped my laughing and shot up to my feet, and looked over the side of the cliff. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled out to Zexion as loud as I could.

"I made it!" Even though he probably didnt hear me, I felt a lot more confident about going into Twilight Town and back to the school. Before I ran off, I stopped myself, and took a good look at just how deep the revine was, and how far I had climbed, how far we had fallen. It was scary, scarier now, than before, because now I _knew _what was down there. Nothing.

I ran down through the trees and past the mansion, not bothering to wonder or think about it like I would have at any other time. My only focus was getting back to the school and telling them where we had been. Just as Zexion wanted me to do.

Everyone who saw me was giving me wierd looks, wierder than normal, but I didn't realize it, then. Now that I think about it, I would probably be looking at a teenage boy running at full-speed somewhere who was covered in weeks of filth, too. So, really, I don't blame them. I was kind of expecting it, anyway. But when I got to the school campus, I had to stop and rest. I had been running all that way, and if I didnt save up any energy, I may not have been able to tell the office people what they needed to know. And I didnt want to pass out from overworking myself, either. Plus, I was embarrassed. It was lunchtime when I got to the school. I wanted to wait, that way the office people would be refreshed and there would be little to no students watching me come in all dirt-crusted.

I was relieved when the bell rang soon after I got there. I was rested and ready to go, with a few minutes to spare, even. And when the students were all gone from the courtyard I booked it to the main office. I ran towards the door and opened it quickly. They all looked at me, again, with dirty looks.

"What are you doing!" A secretary pretty much yelled at me. I had forgotten how filthy I was, which is probably the only reason for her loud reaction.

"I need your help!" Was the only thing I could think of saying. But it got their attention. The same lady narrowed her eyes at me.

"Who are you?"

"Im Demyx O'Donohue," She stood up with her jaw dropped open.

"What? Where, where have you been!"

"I cant, I cant tell you right here, I, Zexion, he's still down there-"

"Down where? Why cant you tell me?"

"Just get someone who can help him out of the bottom of a revine! Ill tell you everything else on the way there!" I was more out of breath than I thought, but the lady did what I said, and she told me the police and ambulances where going to follow us to where I led them. The whole drive there, I was forced to tell them everything that had happened, even though I was planning to do that anyway. They made it seem like I was resisting or something.

"I tried to run away one night but Zexion followed me all the way to the top of the place Im gonna take you to. I didnt know he followed me until we had gone up there, I got mad at him and it was raining. We got in a fight..." I paused a little but, really figuring out how stupid I was for doing all of this. "and since it was raining, I slipped on the mud and off the edge of the cliff," The woman behind me gasped. "but, Zexion caught me before I fell all the way down. He tried to pull me up but it was too muddy and wet, and...we both fell down to the bottom of the revine. We've been there this whole time..."

"How did you two survive this whole time?" The guy driving the car asked.

"Well, when we fell down it was nighttime. In the middle of the night, and the fall had given us both some pretty bad cuts and stuff. Like this one, I got this when I fell. Must've scraped it against a tree branch or something," I pointed to the long, dirt-covered wound all the way down my arm. I heard someone whisper "Jesus Christ..." and then went back to telling them. "But Zexion broke his arm, and we've been down there the whole time with that broken bone. But we didnt have like, any food or water or clothes. My bag was left on top of the cliff, so whatever I brought we didnt have..."

"So you two boys have been down at the bottom of this revine for a full four weeks with no food, water, clothes, shelter, and one of you has a broken arm?" The guy repeated. I think he just didnt believe it, though. I nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much,"

"Jesus Christ..."

"Here, stop here," I pointed out the window to the break in the wall in the Tram Common of Twilight Town, and I led them all in through the forest and through the trees until we got to the top of the cliff. If it were just me, I would have gotten there twice as fast. The adults were trailing behind, they werent used to hiking, I guess.

I pointed down into the only spot where the canopy was clear.

"That's where we fell through, that spot in the trees," They all gathered around the edge to have a look for themselves, all of them gasping and sighing about how Zexion and I had fallen down there and made it. I looked behind me, my bag was still where I had left it before we fell...which means no one _did _come to look for us, otherwise they would have taken the bag back. I let go of a deep sigh, mentally thanking Zexion for putting the thought in my mind all those nights ago. Had it really been _four weeks?_

"Hey! Down there!"

"I don't think he'll be able to hear you," I said. "I tried to call to him earlier, after I came up, but I didnt hear him say anything afterwards, so..."

"Then we'll do this, instead..." He brought out a loudspeaker from a bag he brought with him, and used that to call to Zexion. "What is his name?"

"Zexion," I said, suddenly having the most nerve-racking sensation Ive ever had in my whole life. And I don't know where it came from...

"Zexion!" The man used the speaker, still having to yell into it. "Demyx has told us where you are, and we are in the process of getting you out of there. Just sit tight, you'll be back home soon," He turned off the loudspeaker and put it back in the bag. Another guy who came with us said something after he was done.

"How do you plan on getting that kid out of there? We can't see the bottom, and the trees are all in the way."

"It doesnt matter how, we just have to."

"But what does that mean!" I burst. He looked at me seriously.

"It means that no matter what, we are going to get him out of there."

"But he has a point! The only way _I_ got out was spending day after day risking my life, climbing the side of this _stupid _cliff, and Zexion _cant _because of his arm, and it's winter time, if he's not out by the time snow comes he'll freeze to death! You can't let that happen to him, you have to get him out of there _right NOW!_" I was yelling at him, on the verge of tearing up. The man looked at me, but then looked away.

"For now, he's just going to have to stay down there, until we can figure something out,"

"Figure something out? _Figure something out?_ You should already _know _what to do! My best _friend _is trapped down there and you are just going to _leave _him there!"

"Listen, that is not what we are doing-"

"Well, it sure does sound like it! I want him out of there _right now!_" I grabbed the loudspeaker and turned it on, yelling at the top of my lungs to Zexion. "Zexion! I made it out, Ill get you out of there, Zexion!"

"Alright, that's enough." One of the men came after me, trying to take the loudspeaker away. I shook them off and kept on yelling.

"They dont know, yet! They, Im gonna get you out, Zexion! I promise! I...Zexion!" The man was now just trying to grab my arms and hold me down, but in the end, it took two men to keep me down and a third one to take the loudspeaker away, but even after that, I didnt stop yelling for Zexion. "Let me _go! Zexion! Zexion! I promise Im going to get you out! _Let go of me, you stupid guys!" I kicked hard and tried to shake them off as hard as I could but nothing was working. I tried harder and harder, they were yelling at me, holding my arms so hard I could feel them bruising. "No! Let me go, _now!_ If you're not going to get him out of there _right now _I am going _back _down there and Im going to stay with him, he's my best friend, my _best friend! _NO, LET ME GO!" I screamed, shaking my head and yelling as loud as I could, kicking and screaming with tears coming down my face. They were taking me away, away from Zexion, the only one I cared about, they were taking me away from him. I screamed for him all the way back through the woods, all the way back into Twilight Town, all the way back to the school, and even when I was taken to my room, I was still trying to run away from them to get back to Zexion. But they locked my door from the outside, and they had a guard standing in front of the room through the whole night. When I calmed down, I knocked on the door, and the guard spoke to me from the other side.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I want to come out," I said, my voice dry.

"What for?"

"I want to shower," After a minute, he opened the door and took me by the arm, leading me to the showers. He stood outside the area to make sure I didnt run away, but in all truth, I didnt have it in me to run anymore.

I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the mirrors and I saw just how dirty I was. I couldnt remember the color of my own skin, the bright color of my hair, or anything. I was ragged looking, like I was fatally sick or something. The cleanest part of my face was the streaks down my cheeks from when I cried earlier. I looked away from my reflection after that thought came to mind. I didnt want to see myself.

It was the longest shower I took, but it wasnt because of the fact I was so dirty. I was like a walking zombie, with no motivation to do anything but mope around and sigh. For a while, I just watched all of the brown water run into the drain at my feet. When I got the slight motivation to wash myself, I had to wash my whole body with soap three times for the water to go clear. My hair was the same thing.

When I finished, I had a clean pair of pajamas on and a towel drapped over my head to dry my hair. I had to look into the mirror again to see what I looked like, now.

My skin was so white, pale...paler than I had tried to remember. The dirt was all gone, but I still looked all sickly, and my eyes had bags under them. Just like before, I wasnt able to look at myself for more than half a minute, then I hated the reflection. It was like the Demyx in the mirror was mocking me, the real Demyx. I hated it and told the guard guy to take me back.

But I didnt fall asleep as fast as I had wanted to. In fact, I was wide awake for most of the night. At one point, the guard left. I sighed, trying to sleep. Here I was, in a real bed for the first time in a whole month, with warm blankets and a room and food, and I felt worse than I had down in the revine. I felt guilty. Zexion was down in the revine all by himself in the dark...no one was with him.

I was put in our dorm room.

The more I tried to sleep the more I couldnt because I still knew that Zexion was at the bottom of a revine instead of safe in the bed next to mine! I looked over at the bed that was still his. I saw his books on the floor, his sheets messy, everything was left like they were when he came after me...he didnt even care about the look of the room when he came for me. He always was concerned about neatness, but not this time. I was up out of my bed, now hovering over the side of Zexion's bed. The next thing I knew I was crying, wanting Zexion to be here, in his bed. There was nothing that I had wanted more at that moment, he was the only thing on my mind, the only thing I could talk about or even say. I crawled into his bed and under the covers, it still smelt like him. That only made it worse, my longing for him...

I did not go to any of my classes for the next week, even though I was suppose to after the third day I was back. The teachers were all told I would be back, apparently, and at the end of the week the principal came to ask me why I wasnt going. He brought the councelor with him.

"Demyx, why havent you been attending your classes?" He got straight to the point.

"How am I suppose to go about my day when my best friend is down in a goddamn _revine_, and when you guys arent doing a single _thing _to get him out of there?"

"Now, don't get mouthy with me, boy," He said. I glared at him. I couldnt have cared less about what was going to happen to me. I just wanted Zexion safe.

"Demyx," The councelor spoke. "It seems like you have been through quite a lot this year. And I assure you, we are doing everything in our power to bring your friend out of there, but these things can take time-"

"Time?" I broke in. "We dont have _time _to wait around and think! It is _winter! _Winter means _snow! _If it snows, Zexion will freeze to death, and it will be _all, your, fault!_"

"Listen to me," The principal said angrily. "I dont care what your motives are, but if you keep this up, you'll be punished, understand? Like she said, we are doing all we can to get your friend out of there-"

"His name is Zexion." I snapped. He was getting tired of me talking to like that, I knew. But that did not stop me. "And what is taking you guys so long! You say you're doing everything you can, but all's you guys do is sit in your office and govern this stupid school all day and answer the phone! Yeah, sure, you _may _have called the police a few days ago, but they are doing as much as you are! Nothing! I want Zexion here _now! _And I wont do anything until he is here with me!"

"Are you telling us that you refuse to go to classes until he is rescued, Demyx?"

"Yeah," I said, looking him right in the eye. "That's exactly what Im saying."

"And what if I told you that if you did that, you would be expelled from this school?"

"I would tell you that I dont care. Zexion is my only friend here, and if he dies out there because of your stupid neglect, I am going to have you all tried for murder, I swear! He is the only person I care about anymore! If it means chaining myself to this room and starving to get you to get Zexion, Id do it. If it meant threatening to kill myself for you to get Zexion, I would do it. If I...if I had to commit the worst thing a man can commit, and if that meant you would go and get my Zexion, I would not hesitate to do it, no matter what you stupid people say! I want Zexion NOW."


	14. XIII Threat

Oh yes, bask in the glory of another chapter. I predict I should be done here in...meh...maybe...five chapters? If they're long, I can be done in around five. Hm. Ill shoot for it. No guarantees!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - THREAT

I was losing light fast, as usual, but I was worried about Demyx even moreso, for I had not heard him try to call to me if he got to the top. But then again, I had not heard any screaming or branch-breaking sounds, so I had reason to believe that he was fine. But I could have tried for as long as I was supposed to live, and it would not have lifted any of my worry. I needed to know that Demyx was alright.

I got my answer a while later. Faintly, I heard an older man talking through what I assumed to be a loudspeaker. It was hard to hear what he was saying, though. The only thing I could make out was "Zexion" and "the process" and "soon." I wasnt feeling too reassured, though. After all, it wasnt Demyx speaking to me. It was some man I didnt know, and I could not have cared less about him. I only wanted Demyx, now. A few moments later, I heard his voice echo off the cliffsides and down to me.

"Zexion!" I looked up at the trees, half trying to see him. It was easier to hear Demyx than it was the other guy, and soon I found myself smiling at his efforts in trying to talk to me. "...I made it out, Ill get you out of there, Zexion!" The feeling I had is inexplainable, it really is. "Im gonna get you out, Zexion! I promise..." Even as generic as it sounds, I felt warm inside, like my heart was smiling with pure happiness. But soon that same happiness turned into mild panic when I heard him screaming.

"I...Zexion! Let me _go! Zexion! Zexion! I promise..."_ I was frantic, stuck in the bottom of the revine with nothing to help him with. He was being taken away from the area, I knew from his screaming. The louspeaker was soon taken, but even without it I was still able to hear his faint cries for me grow quieter and quieter...He was being taken away, and it was right then that I realized how much I wanted him to stay. Even if he only were to stay at the top of the cliff and talk to me every now and again, I just wanted to know that he was there.

And now he wasnt.

His screams were forever plastered in my memory. His calling out for me, screaming my name like it was his last thing in the entire world that he had...I felt like crying. I had to pace back and forth for a long time to calm down, to bring myself back to my senses. But even then, I was incredibly lonely.

The night was no different, I still held that loneliness. The only thing I wished for was sleep, just so I could be away from the knowledge that Demyx was not beside me. Just knowing it made it hard to bear. Time went by slower, making the night longer, and making sleep harder to come to.

I hated every second of being without Demyx.

Before I came to realize it, a full week and a half had passed. And I was still in the revine. I was expecting them to take a while, but I was hoping they would have acted faster. You would think that retrieving a student from the bottom of a cliff would be top priority. Apparently, it wasnt. Although...if I had been the son of a teacher at the school, Im sure I would have been out by the third day after Demyx told them. I swear, the system was in a complete jumble.

Apart from loathing them all for not getting me yet, I kept thinking about the upcoming snow. It was cold, very cold, at nights, and the days were becoming chilled as well. Sunlight was becoming rarer and scarcer by the day. It was clearly winter, and it would be stupid for anyone to think I would be safe from the infamous two-foot minimum snowstorms of Twilight Town. That would surely lock me in, leaving me for dead.

Then again, I had already been preparing myself for mortality. I didnt let Demyx's freedom give me any false hope. I had pre-meditated everything long ago, within our first few days stuck in the revine. I had been prepared for a long time. If they werent going to rescue the living me, they would be recovering the lost corpse of a student they failed to rescue from the hands of death. And if that happened, who knows how it would effect Demyx...

I woke up one morning to a chill in the air, something that was uncommon. After becoming more alert, I got up and looked up at the canopy. The sky was gray, I had little light, and slushy flakes were falling from the sky. My heart skipped a beat.

"Dammit, it's too soon..." I looked around me, my mind coming up with plan after plan to try and keep myself alive. I was going to take whatever measures I could to keep Demyx from any more sorrow, and that was my only reason for wanting to live. If Demyx was not involved, I would have no problems dying off.

I had managed to gather thick branches from the farther areas of the revine, and used those for the adjustments I was making for my new shelter. I kept it in the same place as the old one, which was placed just out of the opening above me, so it would be relatively safe from breaking down due to snow. Instead of having a simple lean-to, I used the bigger branches to widen the sides of the shelter and built up smaller sticks to form thick walls around me. I had to rush, my light was already dim because of the potential snow. But I stuck leaves between the stick-walls in an attempt for insulation, and I replaced the top layer of leaves on my original roof. It was night when I had finished, and the slush had been coming from the sky all day. Thankfully, none of it stuck to the ground like real snow would, instead it just made mud, which I also used on my stick-walls for insulation. I had a safer feeling when I was inside of it, and it gave me a little more warmth at night, as well. For a kid with one arm, I was doing well for myself.

The following morning, however, was a different story.

It had been snowing, really snowing, all night long. The canopy above me was blue and gray, completely blocking all of my sunlight. I stared at it in bewilderment. How was I supposed to survive without sunlight? It was hard to see due to the darkness, not to mention the building cold. The trees were packed down with snow...I could see it. Some of the snow had created a pile in front of the shelter, but that was more than okay, because whatever snow fell meant that I had water. I just hoped that only a small amount would fall at a time, overwise too much of the falling snow could cause a reaction with the rest of the snow surrounding it, thus buring me in the snow, only increasing my chances of death.

The more and more I looked at it, and the more and more I observed for the next two days, I realized how slim my chances were growing. It wasnt long before I had to huddle all day and night inside of the shelter for decent warmth. The only time I left was to bring in leaves for myself to eat, or to take a handful of snow and eat that as a source of water. It grew colder and colder each night, and I could tell from the darkening color of the snow on the canopy that it was only snowing more and more. I had wondered when the snow would melt, and how much the sun hit the trees in the first place. It was clear, now, that my days were numbered.

"Good, God, Demyx, I hope you're alright..." I don't know what time of day it was, so I was counting my days per sleep cycles. I had slept five times since the snow blocked my light and any hope of being rescued, and at the time the only thing I was wishing for was Demyx's sanity. I was worried about him, the most I ever had been, and _he _was the one who was safest. How ironic. But I could only imagine how he was feeling. His screams were still fresh in my memory...

_LET ME GO! He's my best _friend! _My _best friend_! Zexion! I promise, Ill get you out, Zexion!_

It tore my heart in pieces whenever I remembered. Just, to think about what the _look _on his face must have been...it was heartbreaking.

"Oh, Demyx..." I wasnt one to talk to myself, but what else was I supposed to do to keep my sanity? No one was around to hear me...I could spill my heart if I wanted to. I sighed, no longer caring. "Demyx, I wish I could have stopped you, you know, from running off like you did all those nights ago. If only I was confident enough to tell you what I was thinking, how I was feeling...maybe I could have stopped you. But, then again, if I did stop you, things may not have gotten any better between us. We could have drifted so far apart that we would be strangers. You could have been dead..." My voice got quiet, and I started thinking about what I had just said. And clear visualizations were coming to mind. Images of Demyx all by himself in the cold. Images of Demyx down here by himself, unable to take it. Images of Demyx starving and shivering, crying, screaming and wishing...all sorts of images. And I was unable to stop them. They all came so fast, before I knew it my head was buried in my arms and I was trying to stop myself from shedding even a single tear. I was breaking. I was breaking into small fragments of myself, fragments so small that maybe I wasnt able to be fixed...

_No._ My mind lashed back at me. _You have to stay strong. Demyx needs you, and you need Demyx. If you give out now, you would be sending more than one person to their grave._ I came back to my senses, then. My mind was calm, and the only thing left to do was wait.

"Fine," I said out loud. "I will stay alive and well. I will wait, for the sake of Demyx." I was quiet, then only a few minutes later I found myself talking again. "On the verge of death, here I sit waiting in this icebox, hoping Im going to be able to last all this time...I must be pretty full of myself," Then I reconsidered. "No, that's not it. That isnt why," I said. "You want to hang on so badly because you dont want him to be sad any longer. You want to stay alive so you can see the look on his face when he sees you for the first time, yes." I was half-listening to myself, as well as only half-controlling what I was saying. "I dont want to watch him look down at my corpse from my afterlife. I want him to see me living, and run at me, and embrace me like I had been lost and never before found. I want to stay alive because I love him."


	15. XIV Panic

Hey, Ive updated like you asked! And that sure was fast, wasnt it? Yeah, things are starting to get pretty exciting, it's just about the climax! You'll have loads of fun, and you'll have even MORE fun if you've read Burning Twilight, which is another fanfic I wrote before this one. Because an event in here is mildly related to Burning Twilight, but it's not DIRE to read Burning Twilight in order to understand this, so don't worry. You'll just have a bit more fun. :]

I do not own Kingdom Hearts...but oh, do I wish...

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - PANIC

My heart was racing with panic when I looked outside of my dorm room window and saw the thick snow on the ground. It was already a foot deep...and it was still coming down from the sky! My first thought was Zexion, I wanted to know what he was doing and if he was okay or not, whether or not the snow had stopped on the canopy or if it buried him at night. What if he was suffocating under pounds of snow? What if he was freezing to death? What if he couldnt see anything? What if he couldnt find any food to eat? What if the shelter broke? He only has one arm! He wont be able to do anything alone!

"Zexion!" I cried out his name in pain, my heart was screaming to help him, but what was I supposed to do? I was locked in the room from the outside, and the only way out was to ask the guard outside if I could leave, but then he had to take me with him...there was nothing I could do...absolutely nothing...

I fell to my knees, staring wide-eyed at the ground in front of me, using my arms as supports.

"Zexion..." I couldnt stop thinking about the bad things that could have happened, my brain was only focusing on the worst things, I so wanted to think and believe that he was okay and alive and well, but I...I couldnt...! "Zexion, Zexion, Zexion...Oh, Zexion, I hope you're okay, please, please, _please _be okay..." I closed my eyes tight and felt the tears come out. They hit my hands and rolled off onto the carpet. My eyes snapped open the next second, and I found myself slowly standing and walking towards the door. I knocked on it and the guard spoke to me from the other side.

"Yes?"

"I want to go to the office."

"Why?"

"Because I need to tell them something about the revine." The guard was quiet for a second before unlocking the door and letting me out. He grabbed me by the arm as he usually did and led me to the front office. When we got there, I was greeted with stares and a glare from one of the secretaries. I sat down in one of the chairs and waited patiently for the first time in a long time.

"Demyx, what is it that you want?" The secretary was mad at me. I looked straight at her and told her what was on my mind.

"Have you looked outside yet today?" She gave me a look that said "that's the weirdest question Ive ever heard" and answered a second later.

"Yes, I have,"

"What is on the ground?" Again, the same look.

"Snow. What do you mean?"

"That's right, there's snow on the ground. There is snow...on the ground..." I paused, calming myself.

"Demyx, please tell me what you need and-"

"There is _snow _on the _ground."_ I repeated firmly.

"Yes, I am well aware that there is snow on the ground. What are you trying to get at?"

"I told you ahead of time that if we did not get Zexion out of that revine that it would snow, didnt I?" She stayed silent, eyes wide with alert. "It has snowed, and Zexion is still in the bottom of the revine. No one has done a damn thing about it and I want him out of there right now before he dies down there." She sighed.

"Listen. You said to us that it would cover the canopy, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Right. There is not enough snow here to do that. So, you were just wrong, and you're going to have to wait until we can get him. We are trying as hard as we can."

"No, you're not. Id bet that if it was your kid down there, he would have been out already. And the cliff starts at the top of a mountain, which means there's more snow up there. That could mean there's more than just one foot of snow, and I need Zexion back here," I was saying everything as calm and powerful and demanding as I could muster myself to, but even with all that effort I felt tears build up after I said that I _needed Zexion._

The woman only sighed, now giving me the look of apology.

"Im sorry , Demyx. But I can't do anything more than what I already have. Now, it's up to the police, and to the rescue team they are putting together. The school is no longer in charge of this situation. Im sorry," She had been standing before, and now she calmly took her seat and went back to doing her work. The guard took me back to my room, and I had no problems with that. When I was back inside and locked in again, I sat on my bed with my head hanging.

"I guess there's nothing left for me to do..." I fell back on my bed, letting the mattress bounce under me for a second before it settled. I thought empty thoughts, but every once in a while I would catch a memory of Zexion and I, back when we were together, before we came to the school. After we had joined the stupid academy, everything seemed to go wrong from the very beginning.

I got up after a minute and just started to walk around the room. I stood in the spot I used to sleep before I was officially moved into Zexion's dorm, and I remembered the time I tripped and stubbed my toe, hurt my knee and then bonked my head on Zexion's bed and books and elbow in the beginning of the year. It made me smile and laugh for what felt like the first time in a long time. But then I got nostalgic, and then a little upset. Sighing, I sat down on the corner of Zexion's bed. My eyes were closed, but they opened when I heard a thump on the ground. I looked down to see a small, hard-cover journal at my feet that hadnt been there before. Leaning over, I picked it up and flipped it over. On the front, scrawled in sharpie or pen or something like that was Zexion's name, and that's all.

"Is this Zexion's...?" I flipped it over and over in my hands, really wanting to open it. I looked around the room and brought it close to my face and opened the cover with two fingers. Inside, there were lined papers, and a lot of them had writting on them, but there were no dates or anything, so it couldnt have been notes. "Should I really look at this?" I wondered out loud to myself. I flipped to a random page in the book and saw more writing. I read a few sentences before figuring out what it was. It was a diary, Zexion's diary. I felt my face get hot from blushing, I had just read something from Zexion's diary...!

"Oh, boy, umm...huh, I guess I should just...put this back," I got up and turned around, and stuffed it forcably under the mattress. I thought that's where it came from, anyway...but I was staring at the spot a minute later, _really _wanting to read it! "Well..." I reasoned. "He's not here...and what harm could it do...he's my friend, I think I have at least somewhat of a right to go poking around a bit..." I lurked over to the spot and pulled out the diary, flipping to a few pages from the end. When I found a page that I thought looked interesting, I began reading it. Zexion's handwriting was so _nice! _

_I have not been so actively writing, recently, due to some events that won't seem to leave me alone._

_To say the whole truth, after the incident with Xigbar, my mind has been rather mixed. I cannot _

_say what my real thoughts are towards most things, nor my feeling towards those same things, and_

_the same goes for anything that concerns Demyx. It's hard to even write the possible mixed emotions_

_that I have that in turn created this one. _

_I have also found it hard to even be around Demyx too often. The only thing I can think of for all of _

_this strangeness is that I may have some sort of attraction to him other than friendship. Because of_

_this, though, I do not feel like I can tell him about it. He is my only friend, and losing him now would_

_surely mean the end of anything meaningful in my future life. But maybe that outlook is also due _

_to the feelings I have for him. Could I really have that sort of mentality about Demyx? I can't answer,_

_myself. I think I just need time to think about it. But that time means I will have to converse less_

_with Demyx, and that is going to be harder than I planned at first, partially because he is now my _

_dorm mate. _

_I do hope that my thinking does not interfere too much with the relationship we have now. I don't want_

_Demyx taking any sort of rash action, like I would expect him to. I need to be careful, that's all. And_

_hopefully Ill have an answer for myself soon. But...in all honesty, as I sit and write this down, I can't _

_help but feel like I would be fooling myself if I thought about Demyx as just a friend, or even a brother._

_I think I am indeed falling for him._

I closed the diary, that was the last thing I read, that line.

"Zexion...loves me?" I was quiet, sitting on his bed and thinking about what I had read. I was smiling, my heart was racing with happiness. Zexion was in love with me! I laughed out loud, I couldnt help it! "Zexion, you, you love me! Zexion!" I heard the guard bang on my door.

"Hey, keep it down!"

"Oh, sorry," I giggled under my breath. "This is so _cool!"_ I hugged the diary as if it was Zexion himself, for once I was happy. I spun around and landed on my bed with the diary at my side. I slid it underneath Zexion's bed a minute or so later, and I couldnt get the smile off of my face. It was so awesome! Zexion loved me, even though he only said he _liked_ me, and I had told him that I liked _him _when...

"When I think I love him, too," I smiled the biggest smile I had in a long time, and probably ended up falling asleep with a smile on, too.

A few days passed, and then a week passed, and every day I read those pages Zexion wrote, just to keep me happy. After all, I didnt think Zexion wanted me to be sad, and he would do anything to make me happy, so if this was what made me happy, I didnt think he would have too big a problem with it.

"Besides," I said aloud. "He would _have _to confess his un_dying _love for me sooner or later!" I put the diary back where it went and just kinda sat around for a while. There was nothing to do when you're by yourself in a dorm room, especially when you have nothing to really keep you from getting stir-crazy. I was only allowed to go outside every so often, to get breakfast or to shower and stuff, but I definitely wasnt allowed to go wandering about the school, even with a guard keeping hold of my arm.

I sighed, and looked around. Then I remembered that I had brought my guitar with me, and it was in my closet. Smiling I got up and opened the closet, reaching in and pulling out my blue and white guitar. I had never really learned how to play anything solidly, and I always just kind of made up what I played. I did have a bunch of music tabs and stuff, but I had no idea where they went. So, I let my mind roam free and let my fingers do the playing like I always used to.

At one point I opened my eyes and listened to what I was playing, and I felt a meanginful rush go through my entire body at the sound of it all. I felt like I had created God in a song, from how wonderful it sounded. I made an effort to remember what it was I played, and I let my fingers move to the chords and sweep along the neck of my guitar with no effort at all...and before I knew it, the sky outside was dark and it was time to be asleep. Smiling, I put my guitar down on the floor next to my bed and shut off the light to go to sleep.

_"What is this? Am I asleep? Yes, of course Im asleep, I dont remember waking up yet. So, am I dreaming? But this looks and feels so much realer than other dreams..." I was speaking, but there was another voice that I could only hear if I wasnt trying was talking to me, too. I was surrounded by white, just kind of floating in the middle of nothing. I looked down, and in the middle of the empty white ground I saw a black guitar with all of the strings broken, and the guitar itself was all beat up, with chips in the paint here and there. I was on the ground, now, looking down at the guitar, wondering about it and why it was there. Then I saw Zexion in the distance before me when I looked up from the guitar, and he held the same guitar in his hands, with the strings still broken. "Zexion!" He didnt say anything to me, he didnt even look excited to see me or anything. I looked at me feet, and the guitar was gone, so obviously he was holding the one that used to be there. "How did you get that so quickly? I didnt see you take it. But how is he doing that? All of the strings are still broken." Zexion was playing the guitar, he was playing the song that I had been playing earlier, the one that meant something to me when I played it. But the strings...they were snapped still, so how was the music coming from the guitar if there were no strings on it? "Zexion, how are you doing that?" He did not answer me and the more I tried to walk towards him the farther away he got. I tried walking backwards, but nothing moved. I stood still in one place and called out to him. "Come home!" The next moment he was in front of me, handing me the guitar, but all of the strings were fixed and the guitar looked brand-new. I smiled and thanked Zexion, and he smiled at me. "Someone told me this needed fixing," He said._

I was awake, remembering the dream. It was so weird...I never had something like that dream happen to me before. I wondered what it meant? Because that guitar in it wasnt mine, so what was it, really? I shook it off and checked what time it was, then asked the guard if he could take me to get food. The whole day, the dream kept bugging me, I really wanted to know what it meant! When I got back to the room, I looked through all of the books Zexion had brought and found a dream dictionary.

"Thank you, Zexion, for you and all of your interests in these things!" I flipped through it and looked up "white," "guitar," and "song," but song wasnt in there, so I went with "white" and "guitar." White meant purity, wholeness, innocence, or cleanliness. It also could mean a new beginning or a blank slate, and in European areas it could mean mourning for the loss of something. When I saw the whole "mourning" part I got a shiver and a little panicked. But under "guitar," it said that if the guitar was unstrung or had broken strings, it meant disappointments in love life. It said that if music was being heard, that emotions were being expressed in a healthy way. All in all, I didnt really know how to interpret the dream any more than that...

"Demyx," The guard knocked on my door, and I closed the book immediately and put it back where it belonged.

"Y-yeah?"

"You have someone here to see you." That surprised me a bit.

"Uh, who is it?" There was a silence outside of the door and a muffled voice or two before I got an answer.

"They would rather not have their name said, they just want to talk to you."

"Well..." I thought, but really had no thoughts going through my head in the first place, and then figured, Why not? "Okay, they can come in." The door knob turned and when the guard stepped to the side to let the person in, I watched them come inside and then watched the guard close the door behind the person. Whoever they were, they were tall and skinny, but other than that I couldnt see any real features about them.

"Who are you?" I asked, standing up from my sitting position on the floor next to Zexion's books. They did not answer right away, instead, they looked behind them like they were afraid of something, then took a few quick steps towards me and took off the hat they were wearing, which had also been covering their face. A flurry of red hair fell out of the cap, automatically falling into its normal placement, stiking out in spikes. My jaw dropped when I saw his green eyes.

"Axel?" He jumped in surprise and quickly covered my mouth with a gloved hand, and put another finger to his lips to shush me.

"Shh!" He said, "You gotta be quiet, Demyx, they don't know Im here,"

"Why are you here? I thought you ran away!"

"I did," He said, now taking off the white and red jacket he had on and tossing it to the floor. He had one of his normal black tank-tops on, with his thin and muscley arms completely free. I have to admit, Axel had some _sexy _arms!

"Well, then why are you here now? And why dont they know, yet?"

"Because..." He paused, thinking, maybe. "Because I kind of wanted to find Roxas. I figured you'd know where he was, because it's not like I can just go wandering into his classes. Oh, yeah, and I heard in town about you and Zexion disappearing and stuff, and how you were found but Zexion is still somewhere. Is that true?" I nodded.

"Yeah, we fell off a cliff and we were living in a revine for four weeks," I said. "And, Axel, Roxas was kicked out. He...doesnt go here anymore."

"What!" He cried out, clearly forgetting that he was supposed to be quiet. "When, why! What happened!"

"Well, Roxas got all depressed after you left. He didnt talk to any of us for a long time, and then I guess his grades slipped so far that he was kicked from the school. I don't know where he is, anymore. What happened between you two?"

"That..." He sighed. "That's not a story for now, Demyx. I dont want to talk about that. Im more interested, now, in how the hell you and Zexy fell down a cliff!"

And so, I told him the whole story. How _his _running off gave me the idea to run, and how Zexion ended up following and everything. He listened the whole time, never interrupting me, which I was very glad for. I guess I needed to get it all out. But I told him all the way up until that conversation, excluding Zexion's diary and that dream I had.

"Wow," Axel said, falling backwards onto my bed next to me. "You guy's've sure been through a hell of a lot, then, huh?" I nodded. He sighed, and then got up. "I probably should get going,"

"Where have you been all this time, Axel?"

"In that mansion in Twilight Town, 'ya know, that abandoned one."

"Oh," I said. "You know, that's where I was gonna go at first, but something told me not to? That's why we ended up on a cliff,"

"Really? Wow, well, I probably wouldnt have been too friendly towards you at the time, anyway. I havent been in the best mood."

"Im sorry,"

"Nah, it's fine. Well, it was fun talking to 'ya. Ill be going. See 'ya, Demyx. I hope Zexion comes out alright." He began the process of getting his hair stuffed into his hat, which took a pretty long time. I asked him another question, while I watched.

"Axel, what happens if he dies down there?" He looked at me with serious green eyes. The kind of eyes that looked almost disapproving, but helpful at the same time.

"Then he's dead, and people will be sad."

"No, I mean, what happens to _me _if Zexion dies?"

"Well," He started, fitting the final spike into his hat successfully. "That all depends on how you feel about him, and what he really means to you,"

"Oh, okay."

"Demyx," He had one hand on the doorknob, and looked back at me, a smile on his face. "You make sure you have hope for Zexion. After all, you wouldnt want to lose someone you love _that _much, would you? His hope is in you, if I ever knew that kid." He winked at me, and exited the room. I stared out the window and watched him go, walking off campus.

"Love that much..." I repeated three times. "I...he, how was Axel able to tell? How did he know..." I fell back on my bed and looked right up at the ceiling. "...that I loved Zexion like that?"


	16. XV Salvation pt 1

Guess what? I made this one short, to the point, and with a cliffhanger, leaving you BEGGING for more! :D You'll LOVE it. By the way, sorry for taking so long. kept giving me an error message when I went to edit this, hence the long delay. BUT, now it's fixed, and here you go. :]

I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way, shape, essence, or form...oh, but if I did...

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - SALVATION pt.1

It was getting unbearably cold, both during the warmer hours and during the times I slept. I still couldnt find any way of telling what time of day it was, hence I was continuing to count my days with sleep cycles.

"Dammit, what is occupying them...?" I was huddled in the shelter, trying to keep myself as warm as possible. The blanket of leaves Demyx and I had shared was now just a sheet of cracking, dry leaves, and the darkness of the revine was too much for me to be able to get too far from the shelter to find more leaves to make a blanket from, so I was stuck with the surrounding, diminishing supply of leaves around me that I needed to save for food purposes.

But, really, what on earth could have been taking them so long? There was a boy trapped in an icebox, with a huge chance of freezing to death, and they havent made any noticeable effort. I was sure that they would take a while, but not this long. I was not expecting them to take two and a half weeks after the snow came, which meant I had been alone in the revine for around three, or three and a half to four weeks after Demyx escaped.

"Maybe they think I have died," I reasoned. "But even then, wouldnt they still try to get to me prior to my death? And have they told mother and father where I am? If so, they would be putting up a fight with the world to get me out, if they had to. I suppose their overprotective tendencies are a good thing, in this case..." I drifted into thought, after that. For...I dont really know how long, really. I would say it was a pretty decent amount of time to just be thinking, daydreaming, spacing out, etcetera. Mostly, though, I was thinking about life before coming to the academy.

Everything was perfect. I had Demyx, we had friends, real friends who loved us, and we had our families. Even though I could have done without their habits and sometimes ignorant ideals, I have to give them credit for moving into the area my home was in, because it brought me to meeting Demyx. Their choice of living as well as Demyx's parents' choice led the two of us together, and that I must thank them for. Without that knucklehead, Demyx...I would not have been able to say where I would have been. Probably not down in the bottom of a revine, but...maybe I would have just remained a secluded "emo" kid with no friends and no life...I cannot say.

"Thank you," I said out loud, to everyone who passed through my mind. But, then my mind took a different turn. I began thinking about what things the academy had done for me.

For one, I met Axel, Roxas, Xaldin, Luxord, and all the others. I would never forget any of them, for all of their completely different minds and personalities, yet being able to fit together like puzzle pieces. I thought about how Xigbar, even though he pulled a few bad stunts, brought Demyx and I closer than we had been before. Really, I felt like I had to thank Xigbar for making me realize just how much Demyx really meant to me.

I felt my splinted arm, which had the same stick that Demyx found, with the same strips of fabric from Demyx's ripped clothes. It hurt like hell, but without the break Demyx would not have seen what his stupid ideas do to people in the worst conditions.

I wondered where he was, what he was doing, how his classes were going, everything. I imagined Demyx in his bed, warm and washed and fed, how safe he was and how he was trying to finish his work to keep up with the stuff he had missed. I heard myself laugh a bit.

Four sleep cycles passed. There was not a second that I was not freezing cold. I was shivering, now, and I had been for a full day and a half. That was not a good sign, not at all, and it was not helping that snow had stopped falling from the canopy, so I was without good water. I had thrown a stone or two up to the tops of the trees, to try and see just what it was up there, snow or ice. I had to throw four times before I had my answer, but it hurt my broken arm like there was no tomorrow, even though I had been throwing with my unbroken arm. When the rock finally hit the top, it bounced right off and hit the ground hard.

"Dammit..." The top was ice. Pure, rock-hard ice. That only meant I was going to be freezing faster.

And as it so happens, that's exactly what was happening. The shivering did not wear off even a small bit. And one night, when I was about to lay down to sleep, I got dizzy. I had been standing, and my knees gave out on me and I dropped, supporting myself with one arm and some balance. My head was spinning, I had no idea what was going through my head or what was happening. I felt like I wasnt even there, like I didnt exist. I laid down, and looked up for a minute. There was a hole in the top of my shelter, and I groaned. I hoisted myself up to see it, but then I figured out that I wasnt in my shelter at all. The trees were all around me, and when I finally saw my shelter ahead of me, I tried to crawl toward it, but with my one arm I couldnt do it, and I didnt have the strength to get on my feet. I was shivering, still, and when I stopped trying to go for the shelter, I huddled up on the ground to keep warm. I was so tired all of the sudden...and so out of strength...I closed my eyes and then opened them again.

"I guess...maybe Ill nap for a little while..." I held myself tighter to be warmer. I felt a small pang in my arm, a small pain in the break. Not caring about it, I closed my eyes and fell asleep as fast as I had in a very long time.


	17. XVI Salvation pt 2

Another update? In the same day? Holy crap! Im on a roll!

I dont own KH...You all already know this. :/

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - SALVATION pt.2

I was finally kicked out of the school some time around a week, maybe two weeks, after Axel had come to see me. I hadnt been doing any homework since I had gotten back to that place anyway, and I was still refusing to do anything until Zexion was found. So, I was kind of expecting it already. I was transferred to another high school closer to where I lived, and it wasnt a boarding school-place like Twilit had been. I thought it was really boring, being back in a regular school. But, I guess it was only boring because I didnt have Zexion around, and no one really had any interest in me at my new school. It's kind of obvious to say that it sucked.

The school year was only three months from ending, and with every single day that passed I just got more and more worried about Zexion. Finally, I had had enough. I planned for a week before actually _doing _my plan, and I made sure I was prepared for the worst. In a duffel bag, I had packed five bottles of water, a change of clothes, a flashlight with one set of spare batteries, and the softest blanket I could find in my house. I also had three apples, two red and one green, a half of loaf of bread and an old lunchbox that had ice and hotdogs in it. I had also stolen some of my dad's rope and a pocket knife from his shed.

In the middle of the night, on a Saturday, I removed the screen from my window and slipped it underneath my bed. I opened the window, tossed my bag out and then jumped out the window after it. I closed my window from the outside and then ran for a few blocks away from my house, and in the direction of the woods.

When I got to the Tram Common I had stopped running, I was already too far for my parents to catch me. But I hurried through the woods and right up the back of the mansion to the cliff. I looked down, and couldnt see anything. Taking out the flashlight, I turned it on and shined it down into the ravine, which was covered with snow. I felt my heart rate pick up and I really felt myself start to panic. I forced myself to calm down, for Zexion's sake, put the flashlight back in the bag and rested for a few minutes to make sure I was ready. Taking a deep breath, I turned myself around and felt for the holes in the cliff side I had made for myself to climb so long ago. They were very worn down, probably by all of the snow. I was about to turn back, my instincts were yelling at me to just leave and not to chance it. I shook the thought away.

"No," I said out loud. "I have to try for Zexion..." It was a very bad idea, I know...but I wanted to do it. I needed to be with Zexion. If he was down there and still alive, I would stay down there with him. But if he...

"Please, Zexion, please..." I felt tears well up, but I had to force them down and keep up my pace. "Please, still be alive..."

I thought about him for the rest of the way, trying so hard not to think of him as dead. I had nearly everything we would need to pursuade the people on top to rescue us, even though I could get out fine. Maybe they would finally try and save him...Everything I was doing was for the survival of Zexion, my best friend and the only person I cared about in the entire world. I had even left a note on my dresser, right in a place that my parents could see when they found out I was gone again. In a nutshell, it said that I was leaving to get Zexion, and that I was not going to leave him alone until he was taken out of the ravine before I was. I didnt tell them that I had brought food and stuff, because then I wouldnt be in danger. I thought everything about the plan through to the best of my ability, for once. Even though, yeah, it was a very stupid idea altogether.

My foot slipped once or twice when I was going down, but I had kept my balance well enough to not go crashing into the trees and snow in my way. I did get scared, though. Who wouldnt be?

When I got to the snowed-over tree tops, most of the snow in my way was ice. I used it to sit on, actually, making sure that it wouldnt fall, first. I brought out the pocket knife I had stolen, and started to hack and pick away at the ice. It took a whole lot of effort, more than I was planning on. I had to take my jacket off to keep from getting too hot, actually. But! I was smart and put the jacket in the bag, that way there was no chance of it getting blown away if I was to fall. I was really happy with myself, being so smart about everything!

The ice had eventually come off enough for me to start tearing away at the snow in my way with my bare hands, and when I got too cold I went back to the knife. Once, I took out the flashlight and used the butt of it to smash a hard piece in my way. That...was not very smart. It didnt break or anything, it just wasnt smart. Soon enough, though, the leaves of the trees were coming visible, and that motivated me to get to digging!

I dont know how much time passed before I was able to slip down past the opening I made for myself, but it really was a tight fit, especially with the duffel bag on my back. I actually had to go back once and make the hold bigger so it was easier to get down. But when I did, I felt just the biggest rush of accomplishment, coming down onto the tree I went up for the last time so long ago...it was strange. But that feeling almost immediately passed when I realized where I was, and who I was close to. I wasted no time. I didnt even jump down from the tree before I started calling for him.

"Zexion!" I called twice more before coming out of the tree. I had gotten no response, and I wasnt hearing anything. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that he was dead, but I tried to keep away from those kinds of thoughts...

But when he didnt answer or anything after I called him a few more times, I unzipped my duffel bag and got out the flashlight. Flicking it on, the beam went right in my eyes. It blinded me and I couldnt see very well for a few seconds...then the spots went away and I shined the light around. The shelter was still where it was, but it was different. Now, it had walls!

"Wow, Zexion's been working pretty hard down here, by himself..." I moved the light back and forth over the area, slowly taking steps forward. "Zexion? Zexion, are you here? You sleeping?" I peeked in the shelter, but he wasnt in there. I panicked, quickly taking my head away from the shelter and moving the flashlight's beam from one place to the other, until it caught the corner of a shape in the middle of the ground, a good distance away from the shelter. My jaw dropped and I froze. When I came back to my senses, all fear was gone from me and I dropped the flashlight.

"_Zexion...!"_ I ran over to him, dropping to me knees and reaching out to touch him. I knew it was Zexion, I knew it was. There was no question about it. He was huddled in a ball, even his broken arm was moved into a position that would have been really painful, and I was really worried, then. "Zexion?" I slowly reached out to touch him, the clothes on his back were colder than ice. I took my hand back fast, worry and panic racing into my heart. "Zexion, Zexion, come...come on, let's get...oh, no..." I tried to touch him, but each time I did I couldnt help but pull back. "Oh, screw it..." I gathered my courage for just a split second, and used all of my strength to lift him from his laying position on the ground. When he was sat up, his arms moved and a bit of relief came over me. Now I was void of all fear, and my only focus was getting Zexion warm and safe. I worked one arm under his arms, and then lifted him as best as I could by the shirt with my other hand. It took me a while to get him to his feet. "Come on, Zexion, hand in there, you got to help me...Come on, we're...going inside the shelter, I, I brought food, and a blanket..." I was talking to him the whole time I tried to move him. When we moved toward the shelter, he did not walk with me. I had to drag his feet. But when we got inside, I sat him up against the duffel bag and quickly reached outside to grab the flashlight. I leaned Zexion on my shoulder while I opened the duffel bag and pulled out the blanket, which felt so warm compared to the outside air. I wrapped it around Zexion and partially around myself, but I made sure that he was warmer than me.

"Oh, Zexy, your skin is like ice...man, I should have left sooner..." I held him close to me, as close as I possibly could. Zexion was the first to teach me that sharing body warmth keeps you twice as warm, and now I was using that knowledge to help him. I felt around for his neck, once, and moved my fingers around to feel for even the smallest trace of a heartbeat. Then again, I didnt really know where you were supposed to really _check _for the heartbeat, so when I couldnt find one, I remembered watching a show a long time ago. There was a police officer and a guy who was injured, and he put his face next to the injured guy's nose and mouth to feel for breath. I fixed Zexion so it made it easier for me to check, and after a few seconds, I heard and felt the slight breathing Zexion was doing. "Thank God," I said, pulling Zexion closer to me. I put his head on my chest and then placed my hand on his head, trying to keep him warm. My other arm was wrapped around his back and side, keeping him close to me. "Oh, Zexion, please stay with me, please...please hang on, for me..." I tightened my hold around him. "I need you here, Zexion. I need you here so you can be with me, I, you...you're my best friend, and I...I dont want you to die...please, Zexion...I, I...I love you..."

I woke up suddenly the next morning. I didnt remember falling asleep, but I knew where I was. Looking around, the new shelter was dark, so I had no idea what time of day it might have been. I glanced down, Zexion was warm in my arms, now, clearly breathing, unlike the night before. He was still cold, actually, but not anywhere near icy-cold. I pulled him closer to me, only a little bit, but when I moved I felt him adjust himself just a little bit. I can't even describe how glad I was just to see him _move,_ I was just so, so happy and, and _incredibly _overwhelmed...I hugged him tight, tears building up in my eyes.

"Good God, Zexion...you're alive...thank God...thank _God...!"_ I was quiet for a very long time, just sitting there, holding Zexion. I was so happy that he was alive, I had made it in time...how long was he there? How much longer would it have taken him to die? How lucky was I that I got there, just in time...

Eventually, I had to get up. I moved Zexion off of my chest and laid his head down on the duffel bag, which had my jacket over it to make it a little more comfortable. I tucked him in at the sides, making sure that he was warm as he could be. I stepped outside, and was surprised to see just how dark it was.

"Is it...still night?" I asked myself out loud, and then made my way over to the tree and climbed up. When I got high enough, I saw that it was daytime, nearly noon, it looked like. A bit angry at the snow for blocking all of the sunlight, I went up to the top and started to push snow out of the way, making the hole around me bigger and bigger. It wasnt really going to let in too much light everywhere else, but it was giving me room in case I needed to leave. When my hands got cold, though, I went back down to the shelter. I looked inside and saw Zexion still asleep, curled in a ball. I uncovered him for just a split second, just to move his broken arm into an "unbent" position. He groaned when it moved, his face wincing. But like it did before, seeing him move made me super happy. I couldnt help but smile.

I left the shelter again, and decided to try and estimate just where I needed to get rid of the snow in order to let in sunlight. I found the brightest patch of snow that blocked the canpoy, and then counted the number of steps it took to get to my tree. I climbed my tree, remembered the direction I needed to go, and crawled on top of the wet ice-snow, counting each time I moved my knees. When I felt like it was right, I stood up and looked around. Standing was...probably not the smartest thing to do...and I bent back into a crawling position. I had brought the pocket knife with me, and when I pulled it out I started to scrape at the ice again and again. Of course, when I got deep enough past the ice, it was pretty soft snow. The more and more I dug, the more my mind was telling me to get away from the area before it caved in. Eventually, I listened to that little voice in my head, and went back down to the shelter. I checked on Zexion again, he was still asleep, I made sure he was warm and alive, and then looked up at the canopy. The spot I was digging in was not the right one, but it was pretty close. Sighing, I climbed back up the tree and began digging in a wider range.

I went back at forth several times, each time, I checked in on Zexion to make sure he was doing okay. It had been so long since I last saw him...I couldnt help but smile each time I looked at him. And about the fifth time I had gone up, I moved to make myself a little more comfortable, and my foot slipped on the ice, sending it kicking in the place I had been digging. The snow caved in where my foot went through, I looked at it with wide eyes when I first saw it happen, but thank goodness I didnt fall through. Only my foot did. I careful turned around and broke the snow around the place my foot had gone through. Looking down, I saw that it was a few feet away from the shelter, which was a huge relief. It would have been a disaster if it was right _above _the shelter...

It took a long time to get a big part of the snow out of the way, but the snow underneath me kept me mostly cool. My back was probably getting sunburned, though. When I had felt like I had done enough, I went back down to the bottom. The hole I had made was a few feet around, and I had broken and cut off some branches when I was up there with the knife, so it was letting in a pretty good amount of light. I smiled at it, it had been so much more work than I thought. But, then again, I hadnt been doing stuff like that in a long time...it didnt really seem like it would be hard, though. For the rest of the day, I sat in the shelter next to Zexion, making sure he was kept warm. I made sure to save whatever I could for Zexion, so I forced myself to eat one slice of bread, none of the bottled water (instead I drank from the snow and stuff), and looked around for fresh leaves. I had gone pretty deep into the area, deeper than I had ever really gone before. I took off my shirt and used it to hold the soft leaves I found. I brought them all back to the shelter and snacked on those for the day.

"I never thought I was ever going to be eating these again..." I took a bite of one of the leaves, and then looked down at Zexion. He was still fast asleep, and he ended up sleeping for nearly the next two days. The whole time, though, he was wrapped in the blanket and alive. I made sure of it. At night, when it was time to sleep, I didnt get in the blanket with him. I didnt want to make him cold, so instead I laid next to him and used whatever part of my body I could to keep him warm from the outside of the covers. I didnt care if I was cold, he was the only thing important to me, after all.

For the days that Zexion was sleeping, I did the same thing as I had for my first day. I made sure to only eat what I barely needed, and I made the hole in the canopy bigger so more light could come in. If only I had brought matches or a lighter...

"I _knew _I had forgotten something..." I mumbled half mad at myself. "Well, at least I remembered whatever I brought..." I climbed down the tree again, and when I peeked in to check on Zexion, he was sitting up, kind of hunched over with the blanket off of him.

"Zexion!" I cried, stepping into the shelter and looking at his face for the first time in so long. I was so happy, I cant put it to words...especially when he looked up at me and I saw the look on his face.

"Demyx...?" He narrowed his eyes, probably questioning everything. "What...what is this?" He asked, staring at me, and looking around himself at the stuff I brought. I laughed a little before answering.

"Whaddya mean? I came back to make sure you were okay," I saw that he didnt have the blanket around him anymore, and I reached out and pulled it over his shoulders. He went to shake it off, but I stopped him. "No! You have to keep it on to make sure you're not gonna freeze!"

"But I feel fine,"

"That doesnt matter, I read up on it, and even if you feel fine you could still be in danger of dying, so keep it on," I tucked it over him as best as I could.

"Why did you come back for me? You were living a regular life again." His voice was as emotionless as ever. It made me smile. His bewilderment always made me wonder. But, I guess that's why I loved him.

"Why _wouldnt _I have come back? I just wanted to make sure that you were okay,"

"To make sure that I wasn't dead, yet." He said it in a way that scared me, and I couldnt really think of anything to say back at him. It really caught me off guard...

"Well..." I looked from him to the ground, and when I looked back, his eyes were glued to mine. I...can't describe the look he had, though. Every time I think about it, I get a chill and I dont want to think about it, it was a scary look. It was scary, serious and cold. I wouldnt be lying if I said I hated that look...

"I was prepared to die, Demyx," He said. "I was ready for my existence to end, and I have been ready. Ever since we fell, I was ready to die down here. And now," He paused, leaning back and closing his eyes. "Now you've risked your own life, again, for someone like me. I will never be able to understand why," We were both quiet for a long time, then I got kind of mad and threw back my responses.

"You know what," I started strongly. "I am tired of all of your negativity. I came down here because I wanted to. I wanted to make sure that the only friend I had was still freaking _alive,_ and then _you _turn around and complain about it. I don't know who is the stupider person here, Zexion. Me, the one who risked his life a second time just for the hell of it, to see whether or not the one he loved was dead, or _you, _the one who nearly died and then complained about having his life saved!" I sat down and crossed my arms, no longer looking at him. "I'm done with all of your bad attitudes and negative thinking..." I mumbled, more or less under my breath. I didnt care if he heard it, 'cause I was mostly saying it to myself. We were quiet again. I felt Zexion's eyes back on me.

"Loved?" Zexion's single word turned my thinking around. Had I just...? Oh, crap. I stayed quiet, trying to act like I didnt know what he was talking about. "The one...he loved," He paused, moving his sight from me to somewhere else in the shelter. "He, as in you, and...the one, as in me. Demyx," He was speaking softly, and I saw him move his gaze back to me out of the corner of my eye. I didnt say anything, but my heart was racing and my breathing was heavier. When I didn't give any sort of answer, he went on. "Demyx, why, and how on earth could you love someone like me?" He waited, watching me. My instincts were screaming for me to say something, which only made me more nervous. Finally, I worked up my courage and said something.

"It's for the same reason that you love me." He stopped, I looked at him and his eyes were wide and skeptical. He watched me for a moment, and then looked away. I got up and grabbed the loaf of bread and two bottles of water out of the bag for him. "Here," I said. "Have as much as you'd like. I also brought a few apples, in case you wanted those." I handed him all three apples from the bag, since all of them were different and I didnt know which one he would want. After that I got up and left the shelter to go roam around. I ended up bringing back more leaves, just because I had nothing better to do with the time I had.

Inside, Zexion was keeping himself warm with the blanket like I had told him to, and I swallowed my pride and went inside. Zexion was very silent. He had eaten a few slices of the bread, none of the water, and had finished an apple. A strange thing about Zexion; I had only seen him eat a few times in my entire life, and whenever he ate apples, he ate it all, the core included. I asked him why he didnt touch the water.

"I don't want to use any of it for drinking," He said. "if anything, I would prefer to use it to clean myself. I can see that you have showered, and you've been fed well," He didnt make any eye contact with me for the longest time.

"Well...I dont know if it really means anything, but while you've been sleeping I've been up there on top of all of the snow, making a hole up there so light can get through. It's...gotten to be pretty big," I pointed outside, and looked at it with a smile. But when I looked back, Zexion wasnt looking at me, or outside. I felt bad, I had done something wrong. I sighed, trying to keep back all of my sadder emotions that would cause tears.

"Why did you read that?" He demanded. I didnt wait to give him an answer, but it wasnt the whole truth. Only a simple explanation that made me look like a bad guy.

"Because I wanted to."

"Why do you mock me?" He said, a quiver in his voice. He had his hands covering his face, and he wasnt looking at me. When I didnt answer for a while, he looked at me with rage. I felt that overwhelming feeling again, the one you get right before you start to shed tears.

"Alright," I said. "I'll go," I got up from the shelter and started walking over to my tree, wiping my eyes. I didnt want to cry, anymore. But...I didnt know if I could help it anymore. Maybe seeing him would be enough for me.

I stopped at the trunk of my tree, waiting. I didnt want to leave him, but I felt like he wanted me to leave. I didnt want to make him upset. I climbed to the top of the tree, but waited again. When he didnt come or say anything, I felt a rush come over me. I couldnt help it. I didnt even try to stop it all from happening, I just let my tears go. But it wasnt like normal crying, when you wheeze and sniffle. It was the kind of crying that was only made of a lot of tears, no sniffing or wheezing or gasping. Just a large amount of tears going down your face. _That _kind.

I climbed off of the tree, and sat on the ice and snow, just looking up the cliff side. I couldnt bring myself to leave him down there. But I couldnt go back. He must have hated me. I hated me.

"Dammit, Demyx," I put my face in my arm, now starting to really cry. "Why can't you do anything right...?"


	18. XVII Regret

Sorry it took so long. Another FF submission problem.

Anyway, this is short, but it's full of important questions and it will get your own mind reeling. Enjoy!

Of course, I do not own kingdom hearts, and having to put this at the bottom of each intro memo thing gets rather irritating after eighteen chapters or whatever.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - REGRET

He was gone, now, and I had made him leave. I was not prepared for him to come to my aid. And now that he had...

"Why do all misfortunes seem to fall on the two of us?" I put my face in my hands, thinking. But, I didnt know _what_ I was thinking. Blank thoughts? There was nothing going through my head, only emotion, no solid thoughts.

Demyx had gone away, and I was left alone once again. He had brought me things to survive off of, he had risked his life for my sake, he must have wanted me alive. But I had spent so long in seclusion that I had no idea why he would want such a thing. Sighing, I made myself look through the bag he left behind. Inside was rope, bread, two apples, several water bottles and clothes. Of course, the blanket he had brought was also with me.

For the remainder of the day, I stayed inside the shelter. But when I mustered up enough mind to go outside, I looked up. There was a hole through the snow, and even through the twigs and branches, just like Demyx had said. At least he wasnt lying. It was brighter, even though the sun seemed to be setting. I looked around, trying to see any other signs that he was there. But there were none.

There was a decent amount of sunlight coming through, and me, having not seen sunlight in...weeks, months, I sat right under it. It was so warm...I had forgotten how warm the sun was. I had probably forgotten about most of the sensations I had taken for granted for every single day of my life, until, of course, the revine happened. I wondered whether or not I would get out of there, at that time. And if I did get out, how would I _be _in life again? Simple things like sunlight to me would be like sight to those who had never seen before. Warmth, a house, clean clothes, food when ready, water when ready...I wanted them back, yes, but I couldnt help but think about it all.

If I got out, would I be amazed at everything so familiar but lost to me? And if that happened, would I just go back to taking everything for granted, or would I hold wisdom in that eye?

If I got out, what would be said about me, and to me? Would I be careful about the people I chose to befriend, knowing that they may one day be gone from me forever?

What would happen to me?

Everything I thought about was almost frightening. There were so many more questions, now, ever since Demyx had come. I didnt know why he wanted me alive...the more and more I thought about, the more and more I was bewildered about it.

I laughed, trying to understand.

"Why did you send him away?" I was speaking to myself, questioning myself mindlessly. "He came to rescue you, to keep you alive. And you sent him away. Why?"

"I was unprepared for him to come to me, I had no idea he was going to come back for me,"

"So you sent him away for saving your life?"

A pause.

"I was unprepared."

"Unprepared?"

"Yes..." I paused, shifting my position a bit. "Unprepared."

"Unprepared for what?" I took a breath, and paused in answering.

"To..." Another pause. "...live,"

"I see," I changed my position again, shifting back and forth, mindlessly, heartlessly. "You were unprepared to live."

"Yes...prepared to die, unprepared to live," I came back from my mindless state, half wondering what I had just said, but half knowledgable about it at the same time. I knew what the problem was, of course I did. It was a problem I had created, and I had no need to create it. So, then the same question came back to me.

Why did you- I, send him away?

It was another day before I made any sort of move towards the things Demyx had left. I used the blanket as both a sheet and a blanket, folding myself in it at nights in subsitution for a sleeping bag. That was all. The water stayed where it was, as did the rest of the food and supplies. But I started to grow tempted, it was there and it was brought for me. Something in me, that was not greed, gluttony, nor hunger, told me I should take it, that I would need it. Not for my body, nor my health. It was something else. I had learned to listen to that voice, in the revine, and did as it said, if the power behind it was strong enough.

The water was not used for drinking, instead, I used it to wash myself. One bottle I used on my arms alone, another I used on my chest, and a third I dumped over my head and washed my hair and face with it. Whatever water ran off cleaned as much of my legs as it could, but I didnt worry about it. I felt so clean, even though I had hardly washed at all. I changed into the new clothes he left me, and then used another water bottle to ring out the dirt and grime from my shirt and pants, laying them both down, one on top of the other, then pouring a quarter of the water on the shirt, balling it up, and then squeezing the browned water onto the pants so I could then do the same to the pants, and continued until no water could be rung from them. I used the whole water bottle on the clothes, and got them fairly clean. I used the rope he left as a clothes line, tying it across a long length, from one end of the clearing to the other, right in front of my shelter. It reached fine, and when it was sturdy enough, I laid the wet clothes out on it, folding them over in half. The next day, I flipped the clothes over and made sure both sides were dry.

"Zexion, you have to get out of here." My mindless state came back as I stared at the clothes, feeling them.

"I can't get out myself."

"Why not?"

"Because...I have my broken arm. I can hardly lift it without pain-"

"That's what you think," I cut myself off, and I narrowed my eyes, dropping my hand from feeling the clothes.

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Climb the cliff, just like he did."

"He didnt have a broken arm, I do. Hence, why I did not go with him the first time, and stayed here,"

"But now he's gone, thanks to you."

"I fail to see what you are trying to tell me," I sat down, closing my eyes.

"He won't be coming back because you sent him away like that. He thinks you dont want to see him ever again." I stopped, almost coming back to myself, to my real mind. But then I floated back to mindlessness.

"But, _I _want to see him again,"

"Then climb the cliff side." I straightened my back, taking a breath as I did so. I stood up, conscious again. I walked to the tree he climbed up only a little while before, thinking about it. I sighed.

"I would have to get used to the pain," But then I laughed. "Although, I should be damn well used to it all, by now."


	19. XVIII Unexpected

Hooray for another update! Im going to try and finish this for you guys, finally, so Ill be updating a lot in the next few days. Sooo, have fun with this one!

Kingdom Hearts...is something that does not belong to me.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - UNEXPECTED

It took me a very long time to climb up the cliff, because of how sad I was. When I finally got to the top, I walked through the trees, around the haunted mansion, and all through town like I was a zombie. I just kind of automatically walked, because I wasnt thinking about walking or where I was walking to. Its a good thing I ended up walking home, though.

I came in through the front door, and of course, my parents were inside, worried out of their minds. But they didnt show their worry in that form, not after I told them what happened.

"Oh, Demyx, oh, what happened? Where were you? What happened?" My mom was hugging me and squeezing me, and my dad was sitting on the couch in the living room with his face in his hands, I knew he was relieved. He listened when I started telling my mom what happened, but he didnt say anything.

"I left..." She was quiet and still.

"What...?"

"In the middle of the night, I left. I packed a bag full of things to eat, and clothes for Zexion. I climbed down the steps I made last time when I had to get out of there, then when I got to the bottom it was sunnier, so I could see, and I chipped up the snow to climb down the tree to get to the bottom then used the flashlight to see down in there, because it was dark. Zexion...he was laying, frozen in the middle of the place, away from the shelter we had..." I could feel the tears coming, but I held them back with little effort. "and, he was out cold for three days...I kept him warm...he was barely alive...and when he was sleeping I made a hole in all of the snow and trees to let light inside, and, then he woke up." I stopped there, not wanting to go any further. But, what was there to say? He just..kicked me out, after that. My mom exploded on me.

"Demyx! We, your father and I were scared! How could you do that! Running off like that! God, Demyx, what's so wrong with our household? Are chores too much for you? Are you just that fed up? What the hell!" She continued to yell, but I could only think about Zexion. Meanwhile, my father came up and looked at me, but he didnt say anything, not until my mom was done. She left the room, and that's when my dad talked to me.

"Demyx, is that what happened? Just as you said?" I nodded. He sighed. "We were both worried sick, we were afraid something very bad had happened. We've...been through a lot, all of us. Your mother is just upset. She...Demyx," He put an arm on my shoulder, but I made no move to look at him. "What happened?"

"I told you already,"

"No, you know what I mean." I said nothing. My dad knew me too well. He knew I was hiding something, but he, of all people, I could tell.

"Zexion, after he woke up, he was mad at me."

"Mad?"

"Yeah, that I had come down and saved him..."

"He was mad that you saved his life?"

"Yeah. It sounds like something you wouldnt believe, but it's what happened. You, you should have seen the look he gave me. He was mad, furious, and I...I left. He didnt try to stop me. I waited, wishing he would stop me, but he never even came out of the shelter. He's my best friend, how could he..." I stopped, and my dad got up. I went into my room after a while, and closed the door, shades, and sat in the darkness.

School went on, day after day, as it did in normal life. My mom said I was grounded, and that I wasnt allowed to see any of my friends.

"What friends? The only one I had left is dying at the bottom of a stupid cliff..." I spent a lot of weekends in my room, doing nothing. I hardly ate, only dinner, mostly. I just...had no motivation anymore. The person I loved was dying, and he didnt want me there for him. He didnt want to see me, but I wanted to see him again. I was in love with him, and it was hard enough to know just that. To know that I loved the one who loved me, but chose to never see me. Was it because he loved me? Or...gah, I didn't know.

Life...could not have been worse.

And before I knew it, school was only a month and a half away from ending, and then my boring summer would start, the only boring summer I would ever have. Even still, with nothing occupying my time, with nothing to do, nothing at all, I couldnt forget Zexion. I would think that having nothing would only make you forget, and then you would just remember how much _nothing _there was in life. But Zexion was my first thought in the morning. He was my last thought before sleep. He was in everything I wanted to talk about. He was...he was gone, dead, probably, and I still couldnt forget him, not even for a second.

Even after I was off being grounded, I did the same thing, just sit alone, in the dark, eating little to nothing every day. My marks were high, but that was because I had nothing else to do bu study and do homework. There was nothing else to life.

My parents tried to talk to me, to try and see what was wrong, but I only gave the same, simple worded reply that I always did whenever they asked me, ever since I came home the second time, anyway.

"Demyx, what's the matter?" "What's the problem, Demyx?" "You seem down, what's the matter?" And my reply was always the same.

"He's always on my mind."

They tried therapy, even, but the therapists couldnt really get anything out of me.

"How have you been, Demyx?"

No answer.

"Have you done anything new lately? How have your days been? Did you find a job? How is school? Find any new friends?" All of these questions got no answer. Then, I was asked about the ravine. And that's when I would talk, because then, I was allowed to talk about Zexion.

"The ravine was cold, always cold. Zexion always warned me towards the end that the snow was coming, and that if we didnt get help we would surely die. But they didnt help him. No, not for two weeks, they didnt even try anything. Then there was snow, and he almost died down there. I was the one who saved him. I risked my life a second time for him, no, it was more than just the second time. He was almost dead when I found him. He was so cold to touch, I felt like I was going to burn him if we touched. I kept him warm, and he slept for three days. And then he woke up." I always stopped after the point in which he woke up. I didnt even say how I got out, or any questions relating to that part. I always told the same story. Eventually, they said I was depressed, but with reason, so medication was not an answer, my parents said. If there was a reason, there was no need to panic. I guess I have to thank them, for that.

It was the last day of school. I finished my finals that I had that day, and I knew I passed them all without effort. I walked home, as I usually did, and gave my parents another simple answer when I walked through the door, on my way to my room.

"Hi, Demyx, how was your day at school?"

"Educational." I closed my door, threw my bag against the closet, and stared at the ceiling. There was a knock at my door, but I dont know how soon after I got there. I spaced out.

"Demyx?" I rolled over, and my mom opened the door and came inside. "We're heading out, so I just wanted to say good-bye and I love you,"

"Bye," She sighed after a minute, and then came and sat on my bed. I was facing the wall, so she couldnt see my face.

"Demyx, you'll be okay here, right? I just want to make sure,"

"Ill be fine. It's not like I have any sort of motivation to do anything besides lay here, anyway..." She sighed again, and then my dad called for her to go. She patted my back, and got up, leaving me there alone. Alone in my room, alone in the house, alone for summer.

Soon enough a full week had passed, and I hadnt stepped out of my house the entire time. It would be another two weeks, maybe three, before my parents were going to come back, and I was left in boredem. Then again, I had wanted nothing more than to be alone. And boredem was an understatement, now, anyway.

I was laying in my room when I thought I heard a knock on my door. I waited for a minute, listening. Then there was the sound of four knocks against my front door, and I got up to answer it. Luckily, I had chosen to shower that day, so I was at least looking clean to whoever it was at the door. I turned the knob, itching my head and pulling the door open. There was that awkward silence that there always was when you open the front door, to see someone standing there, whether you know them or not. But this...this awkward silence was different. The person at the door was a face I never thought I was going to see again. But seeing him made me angry.

"What are you doing here?" I was heartless, cold, but I could feel the emotion in me filling up.

"I came back," he said simply.

"Why? Why did you come here, instead of home, first?"

"Home is where the heart is, Demyx," I felt butterflies, but ignored the feeling. That is, until he finished what he was saying. "And my heart is with you." That was it, the finaly breaking point in me. I was overwhelmed, and I couldnt help it. I lunged at him, putting my arms around Zexion and feeling his arms around me for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. I held him tight, and he was holding me just as strong with the one arm he could. It was the best feeling, and if there were words to describe it, I would tell you how it felt.

Im sorry that those words dont exist.


	20. XIX Realization

The epic, 20th installment of Plum Wings. I hope you enjoy it, and I will have you all know that the finale is well on the way. Have fun~

I do not own KH.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - REALIZATION

The pain in my arm was beyond possible, it seemed. It hurt beyond any pain I had ever felt before, and I wondered whether or not I was going to make it to the top. With every move I made with that arm, it sent numbing pain throughout my body. It was unbearable, but I had to get through it, I had to see him again. After all, that's why I had made it halfway up the cliff already, to see him.

I couldnt take the bag with me, I knew how much pain I would be in already, and the only thing down there that would be lost was the blanket and grime-coated clothes. But even then, anyone could go down at any time and retrieve them. They would be left untouched.

The pain blinded me for most of my way up. But I had to keep going, and after a while, I just ignored the pain altogether and climbed as fast as I could until I reached the top. Not even pausing to rest, I walked strongly out through the woods, and tried to keep out of people's way in town. Then, I arrived at my destination.

Knocking on the door, I waited for a few seconds when I got no answer and then knocked again. I heard movement inside his house, and when he saw me, his reaction was half of what I thought it was going to be. I thought he would either be incredibly happy, or detestably pissed. He was neither. More neutral, than anything. But after we exchanged words, he dove into my arms.I felt a jolt in my broken arm, but decided not to move it in the end. It had been through enough, and it wasnt time for pain, then. It was time for happiness. I had never been so happy in my life.

"Demyx, Im sorry," I swallowed my pride and said it. And I meant it. He said nothing in response, only held me tighter. I smiled, giving him another small squeeze before letting go of him.

"C'mon, Zexion" He led me inside his house, and then pushed me into the bathroom with a smile. "Go shower, you're gross," He laughed, and I could see, even from a distance, even from the tone of his voice, that tears were in his eyes. I smiled a bit myself, and then peered into the bathroom to look at myself for the first time in months.

"Oh, my," I said. My face was filthy, splotchy, and shining with greasy-skin oils. My eyes were tired, and I was thinner, a lot thinner. Both in my face and the rest of my body. My hair was disgustingly, well, disgusting, and I honestly could not wait to shower. A moment later Demyx came in with a pair of fresh clothes for me, a T-shirt and skinny jeans, both black. I chuckled in his direction, and I watched him smile. I closed the door, and prepared for the best shower I would ever have.

I have no idea how much time ended up passing, but it was a rather big chunk of time. When I stepped out of the shower, though, I had steamed up the room fairly well. I had to wait for a minute or two before I could clean the mirror off of its built up perspiration, but when I did, and when I saw my clean face, I was overjoyed. I felt so clean, so fresh and ready, it was a wonderful feeling, and it was just as great of a feeling to watch all of the dirt run off my skin.

When I came out of the room, I went straight to Demyx, who was waiting patiently on the edge of his bed. He turned to see me, with a smile already on his face. I knew he was just as happy as I was. He came over to me and hugged me, and I gave him a one-armed hug.

"Demyx," I said.

"Yeah?" He was still smiling, but by now the emotion had faded from my face.

"We should visit the hospital," I pointed at my arm, and he cringed at the sight of it. "Do you have any gauze?" He skipped past me with a nod, and brought back a roll of it. I held up my broken arm, and I held the end of the gauze while Demyx rolled it around my arm. The gash I had from day one that lead down to the bone never healed, and was slightly bleeding now that it was washed, and it altogether looked putrid. Hence the gauze.

I did not know how to go about asking for any sort of operation to be done on my arm, so when we reached the hospital, I went up to the front desk and said I had a broken arm. The secretary did not look very concerned, then again, they probably see things far worse than my arm all of the time, so it was unsurprising.

"Are you sure about the break?"

"More than positive." A few more words were exchanged, and after a period of waiting, we got an X-ray done. Of course, we had to peel the gauze away, and at the sight of my arm and at the gash it had, even the specialist raised his eyebrows. After seeing the actual X-ray, he said, probably on an impulse,

"Good, God, what did you do?" He stared at the image as I told.

"I am sure that, by now, you have heard about the story of the boys trapped in the ravine, yes?" The man nodded. "I was one of them," He looked at Zexion with bewilderment.

"Oh, yeah? Well, it's good they rescued you! What about the other boy?"

"Hello!" Demyx said cheerfully, raising his hand with a smile.

"Im happy for you boys, you've surely been through quite a bit. Now, tell me about the circumstances of how this break came to be. It's in an unusual spot,"

"The two of us fell down into the ravine at night. When we were falling, we both suffered injuries, but this was the worst. I assume I hit a broken-off branch around the size of this hole in my arm, and at the rate I was falling, if it was sharp enough or even just strong enough, I believe it reached the bone and broke it. It has been through a lot, recently, mostly today. You see, no one came to my aid, and I had to climb out myself. I have had this break for weeks, months, now." And after that explanation, the specialist had me booked for an operation on my arm that day, and I was not expecting it. I did hope that they were going to accept my medical insurance, I knew some of the information, and they should be able to find me, so, I did not think money was an issue. And, as it turns out, I was correct. Money was no issue.

I ended up walking out of there several hours later with a full-arm cast. Why? Because hospitals are stupid. I swear, if you broke a finger the right way, they would give you a cast up to your elbow. Damn people.

"Demyx, I am not going to your house, I am going to mine, first, to let my family know that I am alright. Plus, they would be wondering about the insurance at the hospital, so why not let them in on it all..."

We got to our street, and Demyx went on one side and I to the other. I did not knock, I only opened the door. My mother was home, as she always seemed to be. She heard the front door close, I know, because she called out my father's name in wonder, asking if he was home early. I gave her no response, instead, I walked into the kitchen, where she was feeding an animal. Apparently, they purchased a cat while I was away, it scampered past my leg.

She was about to call out, my mother was, a second time when she looked up and saw me. I had one hand in my pocket and the other, in the cast, feeling just plain awkward. She was silent, and her jaw had dropped. She set the bag of cat food on the counter, and put her hand to her chest.

"Zexion...?" She took her steps toward me, and I only looked at her with the same expression as always. She reached out, nearly touching my cheek and slightly grazing my hair, which, had grown quite a lot. I moved my head slightly out of the way to keep her from hovering her hand over my face, and that's when she hugged me. I made no effort to show her any affection, as I had for most of my life. She let go of me, and saying nothing, wiped the tears from her eyes. She got on the phone and called my father, telling him to come home right away. A few minutes later, he walked in the door and saw me. He had nearly the same reaction. After all of the "Oh my god, you're alive" things went by, I dismissed myself.

"I am going in my room. I will be taking with me a few changes of clothes and other things. I am going to Demyx's. Also, do you know what Twilit Academy has done with my belongings?" It was the first thing I had said to them, and they were even more eccentric about me, then. But, when I finally worked an answer from them, my things had been returned, and they were in bags inside my room. I went through the bags and quickly replaced the books and things where they needed to go. I took a few shirts and pants and things, then headed over to Demyx's house without another word, only a wave to the both of my parents. I could see them out of my peripheral vision, that they were watching me cross the street. It was like a load off of my chest when I went into Demyx's house. He was waiting for me in the living room.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked.

"How do you think?" I answered. "The two of them gave me the same reaction. 'You're alive, oh, thank goodness!'" My voice was high when I mocked my mother and father, and Demyx responded with a laugh. I chuckled, and then placed my things in his room.

"What did they say about your arm, Zexion?" He called.

"Not a thing. They must have been too happy at my living state to really notice it. Im sure it will hit them eventually,"

I did not return home for days. I did not want to go back home, but I could find no strong reason why. I spent most of my extra time wondering about it, actually. Usually, while I had time alone.

"Demyx, Im going to take a shower, if you need to use the bathroom, please do it now,"

"O-ka-y," He jumped up from his chair at his desk and nearly skipped to the restroom. Sighing, I sat down and waited for him to come out, which, surprisingly, only took a minute or two. "You are clear to enter!" Demyx said, slipping past me as I headed out of his bedroom door.

Halfway through my shower, I began thinking about my reasons behind wanting to stay away from my own home. And, I sank once again into that mindless state. I must have created it as a way to keep my sanity, being down in the ravine all that time alone.

"So you chose to stay here, did you?" I let my arms hang at my side, the water nearly burning my bare skin.

"Yes," I said. "I have,"

"Why?" Between each sentence I spoke, there was a pause, a deep and important pause.

"Demyx."

"Him? You stay because of him?"

"No, not because. For,"

"I see," I said. "You stay _for _him. Now, tell me why that is."

"I have told you previously, I love him,"

"Is that all? Love?"

"Yes," I turned my head. "No," There was another pause, a longer one, this time. It was full of inquiry. "It's a mix of several emotions...not only love."

"Tell me,"

"There is...love, for him," I began. "There is also fear, for...for me, as well as...sadness, concerning myself, as well as him,"

"Is that all?"

"Yes,"

"Why do you not tell him these things if you adore him as you so tell?"

"That..." I said, slipping away from the mindlessness. "Is something that I do not know,"

It took a lot of effort until anything about that subject was said to Demyx. He never asked about it, but I felt like it needed addressing. Eventually, I came out and said something to him.

"Demyx,"

"Mhm?"

"When I woke up, why did you question me about what I had written?"

"Huh?" He turned to look at me, he was sitting at his desk. "Written?

"Yes," I could see in his eyes that he knew what I was talking about, only he decided to play dumb. "You know what I am talking about." He was silent.

"I...I don't really know..." I let him think, and then he continued. "I just wanted you to...I guess it was, um...It's because..."

"You said that you loved me." Once again, he was silent for a long time. "Do you?" But I did not get any sort of answer for a long time. Not until we were both laying down for bed. I was on the bed (Demyx insisted that we switch off each night) and he was on the floor, and everything was quiet until he spoke.

"Zexion?" I did not answer. "Zexion? Are you awake?" Again, I gave no answer. He sighed, but spoke again after a moment. "Zexion, I do love you...and, I dont know if you love me, but...I don't know, maybe you'll remember that I said it when you wake up..."

"Demyx." I nearly cut him off, but he tried to pretend like he was asleep. He didnt move, and said nothing. "Demyx. I know you are awake, and I heard what you said." Silence. I sighed, but I knew he was listening. "And, in response, the only thing I have for you, is that...you can go ahead, and assume, that I share your feelings." That was as forward as I was going to say it, but as soon as I had finished that sentence, I heard the blankets shuffle, and when I sat up, I saw Demyx's shadow against the light of the moon coming through his window.

"Do you mean that?"

"I would be lying if I told you no," Just then, I felt like I was slipping into the mindlessness again. I tried to stay out of it, partially because I wanted to be honest with him without being honest _mindlessly,_ which is what that state usually was. I figured it was to get myself to realize what my reasons and feelings were behind everything, but it was usually uncontrollable...

"So, you...you love me...?" He nearly whispered the last part of the sentence. I took a breath, and then answered positively after a moment.

"Yes." I heard a very fast shuffle and then Demyx had his arms around me, his lips against mine in the dark. My eyes were wide with surprise, but even if they were closed there would be no difference as far as seeing went. But when he pulled away, I found myself going after him. My hand found the back of his head, my fingers were in his short and soft hair, and our lips were moving in sync.

Things continued for what felt like a long while, but nothing past kissing happened. Although, we did end up sleeping in the same bed, that night.


	21. XX Love

Ooooo only two more chapters from the end! I hope you're all just as excited as I am! You'll LOVE this one!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, but Im sure you all know that by now.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - LOVE

When I woke up Zexion was already awake, and he had been dressed and ready for the day for a long time.

"What time is it...?"

"A little past noon," He was sitting at my desk, looking down at something. I couldnt see what it was, though. I yawned and sat up, still really, really tired. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes like that, actually...

"Hey, Zexion?"

"Hm?"

"Did we, uh..."

"Yes," He sighed. "We did." I had been looking at him, well, the back of his head, anyway, and I looked away. I sighed, but didnt really have anything to say, afterwards.

"Zexion..." I tried to say _something, _but I just, had nothing in me. "I..."

"We either do something about what happened," He said, standing up, and walking toward my door and leaning on the wall next to it. "Or, we pretend like nothing had gone on at all." He didnt look at me when he spoke. His eyes were pointed at the floor, I didnt even get so much as a glance. But I had been watching every move he made. I felt like I needed to, because if he wasnt going to look at me, _some_one had to at least _look _at the other. I took that into my hands. But, that was the only thing I took into my hands at the time...

"Well," I started. "I...I think we should do something," He said nothing. I sighed and then said something else to back myself up. "I mean, I dont think we should really...like, forget about it..."

"And, why is that?"

"Because I...I love you, and you-"

"Yes, I love you, as well, but Demyx..." He closed his eyes, and he sighed again, crossing his arms. "What on earth would we do about it?"

"Whaddya mean? We can, like, you know...officially get together, and then go from there, just like everyone else."

"Yeah, that would work, if we were _like _everyone else. At least eighty percent of couples are...a man and a woman. How are we, teenagers, supposed to go along with this sort of thing? Being a man and another man?"

"Well..." I threw the blankets off of me, and slowly came to my feet. "We can officially get together and go from there." Now, he looked at me, but with question.

"Did you not hear me?"

"No, I heard what you said," I said with confidence. "And why can't we just do it? And not care what other people think about it? You've always put off others opinions about everything we do, about everything _you _do, so why can't you deal with the thoughts of other people and go with the person you say you love?"

"I am afraid," He answered after a pause. His tone had changed, he was still speaking with feeling but, without it, at the same time. He looked away from me, and was looking straight ahead.

"Afraid of what?"

"What will...become of us," There was a pause before he answered any of my questions, no matter what the question was. It was...really weird.

"And what do you mean by that? We'll be fine!"

"You dont know that for a fact,"

"Neither do you!" He took a breath, but said nothing. I felt the sensation of my confidence rising, and I went on. "Tell me why you can't just go with what your heart says, for once, instead of using your head to feel? After all these years, it's hard to think that you still don't have any hint of visible emotion. Not once have you ever used your emotions to decide! You always think about everything..." I sat down, going from mild rage to being passive. "And you even had to think about loving me, why you loved me, what the reasons were behind loving me...not even the most powerful emotion could break your wall..." We stood in a silence for a long time. He didnt move, and I didnt either. Then, he spoke with that boring and lively tone.

"It is out of fear, that I cannot let my...emotions, pass me without thinking about it, first. Yes, even love was subject to it...and I don't know why everything is like that. I have always grown up using my mind, never my emotion. But, I can assure you, that the love I have for you...is like nothing I have ever felt before. I...am unable...to explain it...Love...is a mysterious thing..." I listened to everything he said like it was dire for me to hear it, and after he was finished, his normality seemed to come back, and he looked at me with...the weirdest look. He...there was blankness but adoration. I can't tell you what it was.

"Are you sure? That's your answer? That you really do love me, even through your mind's thinking?"

"Yes, Demyx, I do." His voice was normal again. I don't know what had just happened with his tone before, but I pushed it away from my main thoughts and walked up to him.

"So, you don't care about anything other people have to say?"

"I do not, although, I will...more than likely be awkward about it for a time." I laughed a little bit.

"Well, at least you told the truth," I gave him a hug, and it took him a minute to do the same, but only with one arm. I didnt care, though. He had admitted he loved me, and he knew I loved him. "So, it's official, then?" I looked up at him, smiling. He gave me the same emotionless look as always, closed his eyes, and then nodded. I couldn't help it when my smile got bigger, and I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I felt a little embarrassed about it, but it was something I would have to get used to, after all.

My parents came back around four, five days after that. And when they saw that Zexion was with me, it was like I could see a giant boulder being lifted from their backs. They were just as worried about him as his own parents had been, but now that he was back and I was happy, my parents had canceled whatever therapy sessions I had, because they must have known I was happy again. But, the happiness didnt last as long as I hoped it would.

Zexion went home that night, partially because he wasnt fond of parents, and his usually left him alone, which he said was "the ideal situation," or something. And almost right after he was gone, my parents called my name from right outside my door, and came inside while I was sitting at my desk, doodling.

"Demyx, we have news for you," My mother said. She sounded happy about it, but whenever someone told me about "news," I always had a bad feeling, no matter if the news was good or bad. I turned around to see her, trying to hide the fact that I was worried about what she was going to say. She took a breath and continued with a smile. "While your father and I were away, we stopped by a nice city, Radiant Garden, for a special job interview for your father, and, well, he got the job!" She was still smiling, but I only looked at her without any sort of response popping into my head.

"What...?" I nearly whispered. And then she said it, the statement, the _one_, single statement that I did not want to hear.

"He got promoted and now his workplace is in Radiant Garden! We already looked at a nice house out there, and it's in the nicest neighborhood, and oh, Demyx, you'll love it..." After that, my mind when almost blank. I wasnt thinking, or feeling. I knew that I was panicking and fearful at the same time, but I had no words. "So, what do you think?" She asked. I had been looking at the floor, but now my eyes found their way to her face. She was happy, but I could see in her eyes that she was concerned about what I was going to say. So, I came out and said it.

"I'm not going," I said, turning around and facing my desk again. There was a short silence before she said anything.

"Of course you are, we're going as a family. Your dad starts in two months, which means we have to start packing-"

"I said I'm not going." Now she was mad, I felt it emanating from her, even from behind me.

"Demyx, stop that. You are coming, and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise."

"Oh, I bet there is," I snapped. Now, _I _was mad. I was angry, worried, and upset all at once. There is no word for that emotion. "There are several things I can do to stay here. I can go down in that ravine again, and destroy the way I go down so no one can follow me. I could run away, I've already got an old plan of mine worked out, or, I could just refuse altogether."

"Don't you talk to me like that, Demyx. I am your mother, I can tell you what to do, and you listen to it!" She was yelling now, but I didnt back off.

"I don't have to listen, I _won't _listen! I am tired of always being told around by everybody! I'm one year shy of being able to legally leave this place and live on my own, I am damn well old enough to make decisions for myself!"

"Not a decision like this, you're not, now stop talking back to me or you're in for it, you hear me!"

"I don't _care!"_

"Demyx, _stop _it!"

"No, I won't let you take me away from him again just because it's convenient for you!" She stopped yelling, visibly searching for something to say back to me. I didnt take any moment to pause, I just let the words out as they came. "No thanks to any of you, he had to climb the cliff, the side of a _stupid _cliff with a _broken _arm, a _broken arm, _because no one else even tried to go after him, and I was the only one who cared about him! I risked my life for him more than once, and I saved him from dying, _me, I did. _And now that he's alive, healthy, and happy, now that we're finally together after everything else was against us...you're trying to tear us apart, and I won't stand for it," I hated being so sensitive and emotional, I could feel the desire to cry welling up inside me. I tried to hold back the tears, but my eyes watered anyway. "I, I love him, he's my best friend, my only friend, my brother...and, and even more than that, and I won't have you take me away for some _stupid _job that doesnt even concern me," And with that, I walked right out of my room and out the front door, saying nothing else to them. I went right to Zexion's across the street, hoping I tore my mom to pieces.

Zexion was in his room, putting away some of his things. This was one of the few occasions that he looked at me with surprise.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as if I was going to be in trouble. Which, realistically, I probably _was._

"My parents told me some news," I said, really not wanting to talk about the whole thing. But now that I had caught Zexion's attention, I couldnt just stop telling him about it.

"News," He repeated.

"They told me that my dad was promoted, his new job is in Radiant Garden..." I stopped, and looked at my best friend, my brother and now, the love of my life. "And because of that, they plan to move out there, to Radiant Garden..." I sat down heavily on Zexion's bed, staring into nothing. He sat down next to me.

"Did you say anything?"

"Of course I did," I replied. "I told them that I wasn't going to let them tear the two of us apart, no matter what they try to do. Because, it's like everything has been against us being together even as friends. School, nature, now my parents...hell, even _fate _has a problem with us..." I had a laugh in my voice, the kind of laugh you only have when you're down in the dumps about something and you find something amusing, even if it's just fake amuse.

"Demyx," I glanced up at him from the corner of my eye. "What are you planning on doing?" I shrugged after a second or two, shaking my head.

"I have no idea," I sighed. "But Im not going to let them do this,"

"Did you say anything about the current status of our relationship?"

"What? Oh, that. Well, I didnt say anything straight-forward, I kind of mentioned it in a very 'round-about-way," He sighed, now, and then rose from his seat.

"What are we going to do?" He said it out loud, but it seemed like he was talking mostly to himself, so I made no effort to answer, not for a long time.

"We, I have two months," I finally said. "Two months until my dad's new job becomes final and he starts working in Radiant Garden. If...if we can find jobs, even just odd jobs to get us some munny, we could go off together..." It was a spur-of-the-moment thought, but it was at least something to get us thinking. I didnt mind the idea of Zexion and me running off together and living where we wanted to, it couldnt be that hard with the two of us. But, it wasn't only my decision.

"You mean so we can run away?" He said, translating it into a way that made it sound almost like a bad idea. But, I nodded anyway.

"Yeah..." Zexion didnt say anything after that for a long time. Then, there was a knock at the front door. Zexion looked outside, it was my parents. My mom looked pretty mad, he said. "I don't care, they're going to have to drag me out of here unless you and I've got some sort of plan." That was the only way I could have influenced him to agree to something, because if he loved me he probably wouldnt want me to be in any sort of mishap or in pain. For once, I was using my head.

"Tomorrow, then," He started, right when Zexion's parents had greeted mine. I could hear their voices, and my parents were asking where I was. My heart started beating faster, worried that they were going to interrupt Zexion in the middle of what he was saying and pull me away. I begged fate for him to hurry up. "We will go out and search for employment. We will wake early, and we will make a real effort. Something like this can't be done in a few weeks, we are going to need every penny we get." And just then, my parents opened the door, my dad standing behind my mom, clearly not wanting to get involved. My dad was very passive, and didnt like anger. It was a wonder he and my mom got along well enough to make a baby.

"Home. Now." Was all my mom said, and then she walked away. My dad rolled his eyes at her, and urged me (peacefully) to come along. I stood up and quickly whispered to Zexion.

"Tomorrow, all day?" He nodded. "And we'll go before they try to move me?" He nodded once more. My mom called my name from far off, and she was really, really angry. Zexion made a shooing gesture, and I waved goodbye to him, leaving his house happy and with a mission. But I was really in for all of the talking back I did to my mom. Mostly, I ignored what she had to say. I had important things to do, and just to humor her, I asked for a few boxes and packed the stuff I didn't need.


	22. XXI Everlasting

Well...this is it. This is the last installment of Plum Wings & a Midnight Dirge. I was closer to the end than I thought, really. I, personally, think I could have done a better job, maybe I could have made this longer. But, I have kept you all waiting too long already, so, I did not start over. :p Regardless, I hope you enjoy this, and I hope you have enjoyed the rest of the story. Thank you all so much for sticking around and staying loyal to the story, it was way longer than I anticipated...I love you all! Thank you so much!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts...and this is the last time Im going to have to type it for a long, long time.

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PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - EVERLASTING

It was hard to think that after all of the years that had passed, that Demyx's mother and father had found no sympathy in telling him that they were moving. Any other pair would for a child they love, even my own mother and father, who usually have nothing to do with me, would have concern. But not his parents, not at all. It made me question them. What did they favor more? They availability of wealth, and status, when they already had financial stability? Or the feelings of their only son, who would lose all he had come to know and love? There was a place in my heart that nearly hated them for causing Demyx so mush despair. I only wished that the day would come sooner that we would be prepared to leave. Because leaving when desirable and leaving when ready are two different situations. And we were going with the most unfavorable of the two.

I was ready by eight the next morning. I went over to Demyx's house, but did not knock on the front door. I went around the side, and tapped on Demyx's window. He was sitting at his desk, for once, he was ready on time. When he saw me, he smiled and stood up, exiting his room. I walked back to the front of the house and leaned against the wall next to the door. I could hear them talking on the inside.

"Ill be back later," Demyx said. But his mother stopped him, as I expected she would after what happened the previous evening.

"Where are you going?"

"With Zexion, we're going to go hang out at the station with some friends," Nothing else was said, so I assumed all was well. When Demyx came out of the house, together, we walked close into town. There was usually bits of the newspaper and advertisements posted on two boards in Twilight Town, and we looked at the one in Tram Common, which had the better paying jobs. When we decided to go for it, we called the numbers given and asked when the soonest date was that we could do the job they wanted done. Demyx had chosen a two-day, one-night long pet sitting ordeal that was going to pay him very well in the end. I, on the other hand, took on an "advertising" job, where I had to stick posters around town for a certain event. I did not get as much from that as Demyx would from his pet-sitting, but at least it was something.

Each day we had different odd jobs, and our stock of munny was slowly building. At the end of three days, we had totaled 3600 munny. It wasnt really much as it was, but for a span of three days, it was very well done.

"If we keep going like this, we'll have _more _than enough munny to go where we want and find a place to stay at,"

"Get ready for another early day tomorrow, Demyx. We're not anywhere near the safe zone."

Sundays were the only days we couldnt find any work, partially because everything was closed. So, those were our days off. But, at the end of the first month, we had gathered a total of 26100 munny. It was more or less a large portion of funds for a couple of teenagers, but none of it could be spent yet.

I had gotten myself a part-time job at the Accessory Shop in the Tram Common. I was working Fridays and Saturdays, being paid a well amount of minimum wage, 500 munny an hour. Demyx would find work on those days, although the work was slimming out, we had taken most of it, and on the days that I was not working, the two of us would scavenge the town for more jobs.

Then, the time came. Demyx was a week from moving, and we needed a full plan before anything could happen. We had 55120 munny, and we were not going to run to a local place. If we did, we would be staying in the haunted mansion, or back in the ravine, at least until Demyx's parents had gone and we were home-free. We decided that we would go to Sunset Hill to stay, and possibly live, because it was the closest and most convenient thing. We wouldnt live in a house, instead, we would rent out a cheap hotel room, and then switch hotels after a time, to keep suspicion away from us.

I don't like to mention it, but I had a fake ID created for myself, in case we needed to be legal adults in order to book a hotel room. An old friend of Demyx and mine was good at illegal deeds, fake ID's included.

Soon enough, it was the second to the last day of Demyx's residency. My family had said goodbye to them, and we had worked out a way to build remorse in the hearts of Demyx's parents. When we said a final farewell, Demyx came up and wrapped his arms around me tightly, and I did the same. We hugged for a long time, it was an act we put our hearts into. But when the time finally came for Demyx to head to his own home, we let go, but held each other's hands until they fell, and Demyx would act devastated. I would act sad, myself, to give my parents their own share of the sorrow. And then, at night, Demyx would take two bags he packed, give one to me to hide as a sign that everything was underway, and then he would run off and hide in the mansion. I had my own things packed and ready for my own departure. But I needed to wait until the following morning, when his parents would become aware of his absence.

"Zexion, tell me you've seen Demyx," But I shook my head in fake shock.

"I...he's gone?" And so they searched everywhere for Demyx, only to find no trace of him. They left reluctantly, behind their plans. My parents paid their sympathies to both me, and Demyx's family, but that night I took the two bags I had packed, as well as Demyx's second bag and ran to the mansion to hide with Demyx until another day had passed.

In the mansion, we honestly felt right at home.

"Hey, Zexion? Why don't we just stay here instead of going somewhere else?" We were moving some old and broken furnishings away from the outside of a door, to see what was inside of the room.

"Too many people come by here, if we were seen going in, coming out, or walking around inside of here, that would either stir panic in the hearts of some, and demand investigation, or, we could get lucky and they think we're the ghosts who live here. Also, there is the fact that we would have to find local jobs, and go to the local store, which means there is a chance my mother or father could spot us, and send us home. We have to be careful about every move we make, until we get out of here."

"Oh," We moved the last piece of junk out of the way, and I opened the door. A wave of musty air filtered out, and in the back corner, there was the mostly-rotted carcass of some animal, which had now been reduced to bone and little flesh. It was a gross sight to see, but the smell was worse. Closing the door, we agreed to never open that room again.

During the nights we slept with sleeping bags that we had hidden in the mansion prior to our official stay, and we slept in the most sound room we could find, the library. It was extremely quiet, as well as very clean, making it the best place for sleeping, and living. Unfortunately, most of the books were too old for me to want to touch. They were already falling apart in the shelves.

"Zexion,"

"Yes, Demyx?" I was nearing sleep when he called my name, throwing me right back into alert.

"Why havent we, 'ya know, kissed yet or anything?"

"We have, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was the first time, and the only time. I mean, why don't we ever do it like, ever? It's been two months, and...we've done nothing more than hug," I sighed, sitting up.

"Demyx, come here." I made sure my tone was strong, almost irritated. I...wanted him to be surprised. He inched closer to me, and I could see his dark shadow in the room as he moved.

"Yeah?"

_I cannot believe I am about to do this,_ I thought as I quickly measured the location of his lips, and pressed them to my own. We were there, kissing in the dark, for only a few seconds that felt like hours, and when I pulled away, he did not move.

"There," I said. "Satisfied?" And almost right away, he answered me.

"No," And he kissed me. I did not stop myself from responding, and I don't think he did, either. Once again our lips moved together, our hearts beat the same rhythm, our bodies molded together like that moment was meant to happen in perfection. It was unlike any moment ever faked, ever acted out. It was the kind of flawless moment one sees and reads about in fictional stories, only, it was real. It was happening to me, and I was sharing it with the one I loved.

In short, the three bases in any relationship were rounded that night.

I will not go into any details regarding the experience, the only thing I will say is that I am happy that I experienced it with the person I happened to fall in love with. Although I will say that it was strange, having done those things with a boy who had been my friend for my entire life. That...was probably why I had an issue with our relationship, in the first place.

But after that night, the two of us began our leave, packing our belongings once again and preparing to leave for the station, we were heading for Sunset Hill. But the timing needed perfection; we had to make sure we would not be noticed on our trek there. We were, though, not spotted, and we purchased the tickets successfully, boarded the train and acted like a couple of friends heading out for the weekend. If anyone was to question us about where we were going, we would respond with the reasonable excuse, "We're going camping with some friends, and we're supposed to meet them in Sunset Hill." No one ended up asking, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

When we safely arrived at the Sunset Hill station, Demyx and I exited the train and went right in to town, and thus began the search for a motel of some sort. After having no luck, though, we had to ask a local or two. The cheapest and closest one we found was fittingly named the "Setting Sun." We booked it for a period of two months, which was less than the maximum amount of time, as to avoid suspicion. And from there, the next thing we had to do was find jobs, and that had to be done immediately. In fact, the day after we booked the room, Demyx and I set out on another "quest," as he put it, for employment.

I was more or less lucky. It was the third building I had found and inquired about. It was called "The Book and Bean." You can guess what kind of place it was, a bookstore. There was two levels to the building, the bottom was the place where the books were stocked and purchased and sometimes read, and the upstairs level was a small coffee shop, something similar to Starbucks, only very much smaller, and less expensive. It so happens that the owner was hiring, they had just lost an employee a day or two prior to my inquiry. I was to begin work the following week, after things were all settled in and I had some "training."

Demyx, on the other hand, had more trouble finding work.

We searched for most of the day, and found only one possible place. They were not currently hiring, but said that they may need a "helping hand" when the tourist season came, and that they would call us. That job did not end up coming through, and it took Demyx another few days to find his work, which was a part-time job at a place called "Sounds of the Wind," and his job was to go in on the weekends, Friday and Saturday, and take stock of everything. The first day he would have to count the amount of each item they had in the shelves and in storage, and then the next day, he would figure out how many of what object were sold, and when the time came, he would need to place the order for the things they needed to restock on. Needless to say, he did not enjoy his work.

Sooner than we hoped, though, summer was coming to an end and we needed to finish our education. We had moved hotels, and were occupying our new room for one month and ten days.

As for my schooling, I chose to enroll myself in the local home-schooling program, or, better called independent study. That is where I have my assigned text books, for six classes, and each week on a scheduled day and time, I meet with my one teacher. We correct the work I had from the week before, take whatever tests are needed, then receive another week's worth of assignments. That way, I was able to keep my daytime job and earn as much munny as possible. Demyx enrolled in regular school, and still went to work on the weekends. We were slowly on our way to living in an apartment, or, maybe even one of those smaller, comfortable cabins that were kind of out of the way of the rest of town. That was the only thing we hadnt decided.

But even still, when we spoke about the future and about our relationship and time together, only smiles came to our faces. We had many hopes and dreams, many aspirations and wishes. Our love, however secret, strong, open, or silent it may have seemed, was everlasting. Demyx and I were truly in love, and there are no words even now that can describe exactly what it felt like. Even I, who thought I would never be blessed with such an experience or feeling, now I believe in it. After all, with someone like Demyx always at your side, and then, finding that you loved him more than your own life...how can a human being _not _believe in love, everlasting?


End file.
